Abu Dhabi set to become clearing house for UK visas

The UK is considering making Abu Dhabi its official base for carrying out interviews with Pakistani nationals wishing to come to live or study in Britain, it was reported on Tuesday.

The UAE capital is already being used by British officials to carry out telephone interviews with students from Pakistan looking to study in the UK, but who are suspected of being a security threat to the country, said UK daily The Times.

UK Home Secretary Jaqui Smith revealed information about the Abu Dhabi interview scheme during a question and answer session with MPs about terror suspects who had entered the country on student visas.

Smith said entry clearance for some 'risky' students now took place in Abu Dhabi after applications had been processed in Pakistan.

It also emerged that a pilot scheme looking at making Abu Dhbai the base for all UK visa applications from Pakistan was being carried out.

Moving the decision-making on visas from Islamabad to the UAE had allowed the Border and Immigration Agency to reduce staff its Pakistan office, the agency said.

Smith added that the visa clearing system used robust information including biometrics to identify potential terrorists, and that interviews were only carried out where necessary.

Telephone interviews we only used “where appropriate, on those people who are most likely to be risky”, she said.

A Home Office spokesperson added that telephone interviews were never conducted from London before a visa was issued.

However, the majority of student visa applicants from Pakistan were not interviewed before being issued with permission to enter the UK, the Home Office confirmed.

More than 42,000 Pakistanis came to Britain as students between 2004 and 2007.