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Up to 181,000 migrants are living in Britain on visas that have expired over the last two years, the National Audit Office says There are as many as 181,000 migrants living in Britain on visas that have expired over the last two years, according to Whitehall’s spending watchdog. A National Audit Office (NAO) report published today says the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) fails to carry out its own checks on whether overstayers have left the country and instead relies on employers to police their own staff. The NAO says that the new points-based immigration system has been a welcome simplification of the previous labyrinthine work visas system, but it cannot yet ensure proper controls over migration or meet Britain’s needs for skilled labour. The report says that while 80% of those who applied through “tier one”, the most highly skilled route, are working in appropriate jobs, most of the skilled migrants who came through “tier two” are not currently working in jobs in national shortage occupations. UKBA still lacks the ability to identify easily individuals whose visas have expired and does not do enough to check that migrants leave Britain if they have no right to remain, the report adds. One UKBA region has contacted applicants whose visas have not been renewed and encouraged about 2,000 to leave since 2009, but “while UKBA has some contact details for an estimated 181,000 failed applicants overall, it cannot be sure how many have left the UK,” the report says. The Whitehall auditors say that the points-based system is not yet delivering value for money. The report says that the development of the computer system at the heart of the programme has had a chequered history. An initial forecast of potential savings was downgraded from £224m to £65m. The supplier, Fujitsu, initially underestimated the complexity of the project, while UKBA paid the company £4m in 2007 to develop applications that were not used. The NAO says that further improvements are still needed. Margaret Hodge, chair of the Commons public accounts committee, said that part of the problem was that UKBA relied on employers to police their own employees. Damian Green, the immigration minister, said the report highlighted why the government was introducing radical reforms. “We are committed to reintroducing exit checks by 2015. Counting people in and out of the country will give us better control over those that overstay,” he said. Immigration and asylum Damian Green Alan Travis guardian.co.uk