London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 03, 2025

‘It’s pretty common’: fake documents add to Border Force officials’ Covid woes

‘It’s pretty common’: fake documents add to Border Force officials’ Covid woes

Official says he fears Heathrow team will be overwhelmed when travel restrictions begin to ease
A Border Force officer based at Heathrow describes his work during the pandemic and the pressures it entails ahead of the border restrictions easing on Monday …

“What’s happened during the pandemic is, a whole load of incredibly time-consuming and bureaucratic procedures have been bolted on to our job.

“It’s now the case that on top of the job we normally do, which is immigration control, we spend 95% of our time doing the quarantine. Only 5% of the job that is left is our normal job. It has an extreme impact on our jobs.

“Pre-Covid, Brits, for instance, you would deal with them in about 30 seconds. Post-Covid it takes 15 minutes per person.

“When somebody comes to your desk now, you’re asking for, first of all, if they have a certificate to show they’ve tested negative in the previous 48 hours. They have to produce evidence where they are going to be staying, self-isolating evidence of where they’ve come from – because if they’ve come from a red-list country, they may have to quarantine in a hotel and provide evidence of that too.

“If you find there’s a problem, if you find they haven’t got a certificate or they’re from a red-list country and they’ve not booked the relevant test, you have to fill out forms to issue fines.

“These forms take 20 minutes to half an hour per person. If you have a family of five or six, unless any of them are under the age of six, you have to spend 20 to 30 minutes on each of those family members. This is why there are so many problems.

“If I was looking for a forgery of any type, you would simply be looking at the document and thinking, ‘If this is from an official lab that does testing, why is it they can’t spell basic words in English? Why is it the information on the certificate doesn’t correspond to the passport?’

“All of those things would ring bells and over a period of time you end up getting patterns of areas, certain countries, certain areas or organisations.

“It’s pretty common. You’re mostly talking about people arriving from not particularly affluent countries. They hope by paying for a forgery they will avoid paying the costs for tests and quarantining.

“When the borders open further on Monday, we will fall over. Unless something changes, like the 100% requirement for checks, at Heathrow we will be unable to cope.

“In the build up to Pakistan and India entering the red-list countries, the night before, we had queues that took four hours to deal with.

“We’ve been clobbered with a huge increase in workload. It puts the immigration control at risk, because if I’m dealing with a passenger on the desk, I have to spend 15 minutes asking them non-immigration questions, and once that’s finished I have to remember to ask them some immigration questions as well.

“I have colleagues who have said they have forgotten to ask the immigration questions because they have so much to deal with.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Political Dispute Escalates Between Trump and Musk
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
US Senate Votes to Remove AI Regulation Moratorium from Domestic Policy Bill
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
Jury Deliberations in Diddy Trial Yield Partial Verdict in Serious Criminal Charges
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
King Charles Plans Significant Role for Prince Harry in Coronation
Two Chinese Nationals Arrested for Espionage Activities Against U.S. Navy
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
Trump Administration Considers Withdrawal of Funding for Hospitals Providing Gender Treatment to Minors
Texas Enacts Law Allowing Gold and Silver Transactions
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
Germany Votes to Suspend Family Reunification for Asylum Seekers
Elon Musk Critiques Senate Budget Proposal Over Job Losses and Strategic Risks
Los Angeles Riots ended with Federal Investigations into Funding
Budapest Pride Parade Draws 200,000 Participants Amid Government Ban
Southern Europe Experiences Extreme Heat
Xiaomi's YU7 SUV Launch Garners Record Pre-Orders Amid Market Challenges
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's Lavish Wedding in Venice
Russia Launches Largest Air Assault on Ukraine Since Invasion
Education Secretary Announces Overhaul of Complaints System Amid Rising Parental Grievances
Massive Anti-Government Protests Erupt in Belgrade
Trump Ends Trade Talks with Canada Over Digital Services Tax
UK Government Softens Welfare Reform Plans Amid Labour Party Rebellion
Labour Faces Rebellion Over Disability Benefit Reforms Ahead of Key Vote
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Host Lavish Wedding in Venice Amid Protests
Trump Asserts Readiness for Further Strikes on Iran Amid Nuclear Tensions
North Korea to Open New Beach Resort to Boost Tourism Economy
UK Labour Party Faces Internal Tensions Over Welfare Reforms
Andrew Cuomo Hints at Potential November Comeback Amid Democratic Primary Results
Curtis Sliwa Champions His Vision for New York City Amid Rising Crime Concerns
Federal Reserve Proposes Changes to Capital Rule Affecting Major Banks
EU TO HUNGARY: LET THEM PRIDE OR PREP FOR SHADE. ORBÁN TO EU: STAY IN YOUR LANE AND FIX YOUR OWN MESS.
Trump Escalates Criticism of Media Over Iran Strike Coverage
Trump Announces Upcoming US-Iran Meeting Amid Controversial Airstrikes
Trump Moves to Reshape Middle East Following Israel-Iran Conflict
Big Four Accounting Firms Fined in Exam Cheating Scandal
NATO Members Agree to 5% Defense Spending Target by 2035
Australia's Star Casino Secures $195 Million Rescue Package Amid Challenges
UK to Enhance Nuclear Capabilities with Acquisition of F-35A Fighter Jets
×