Thousands of asylum seekers have been lost to immigration officials, according to a group of MPs looking in to border controls.
They say more than 60,000 people will have vanished in a "rush" to clear backlogs.
Where have these people gone?
You might remember the uproar four years ago when it came out up to 450,000 asylum claims hadn't been processed.
Home Affairs Committee: 60,000 asylum seekers lost in a "rush" to clear backlogs
There were claims that the Home Office was not "fit for purpose" under the old Labour government.
Ever since, this MPs' group - the Home Affairs committee - has been keeping an eye on efforts to get things back on track.
What's come out today is their latest report.
So - these aren't new asylum seekers?
No. All this could go back years.
The accusation is that in the rush to catch up since that backlog about one in seven applications have simply been shelved.
They say too much time has passed, and it's now likely to be impossible to find the people that filled out the forms in in the first place.
It adds up to about 60,000 people living in the UK who initially arrived as asylum seekers and there's no knowing whether they should be allowed to stay or not.
But they won't be here legally if they don't have their paperwork sorted?
That's right. It leaves them in limbo neither legally settled and able to get a proper job, nor under threat of being removed.
The report calls for the next head of Border Agency to get a lower salary.
Answering all this for the government, the Immigration Minister Damian Green says the system is "recovering".
- Published29 April 2010
