THE number of “ridiculous” visa rejections are increasing, the SNP has warned, as the UK Government prepares to reveal its future immigration plans.

SNP MP Patrick Grady said the Conservatives were running a “humiliating system” with unreasonable rejections being frequently overturned after appeals by politicians and journalists.

Grady has called for “root-and-branch reform” of the system, saying it was unfairly turning people away from the UK.

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Speaking ahead of the long-awaited government immigration plans, now expected to be published next week, Grady said: “This is happening all the time.

“On a weekly basis we hear MPs trying to shoehorn questions about visa cases into debates.

“The idea they are going to abscond – abandon their careers and families – is ridiculous but that seems to be the attitude.

“It’s incredibly frustrating and stands in complete contrast to what the Government says it wants to do.”

The latest Home Office statistics show nearly 340,000 visa applications were rejected last year, but data on rejections being overturned is understood not to be available.

In one recent example an assistant professor of English hoping to bring a group of schoolchildren on a language exchange trip had her visa denied, meaning the visit could not go ahead and families would be left thousands of pounds out of pocket.

SOL (Sharing One Language) school founder Grenville Yeo had arranged for the Ukrainian group to visit his charity in Barnstaple, as he has done for thousands of students over the last 30 years.

Maryna Shevchenko was the first group leader ever to have been refused a visa, when the Home Office decided she had not demonstrated she had sufficient funds to be able to return home, despite earning a salary.

Yeo said he was angered by the decision and believed the rejection was down to the hostile environment policy and all Eastern European visas now going through one British embassy in Warsaw, where staff are clearly overloaded and making mistakes.

He said: “Hearing the lead teacher, and therefore the whole group, was refused made me very angry because the reasons given were complete lies.

“The system now is heartless, but what is worse is that it is unprofessional and beyond that it does a lot of harm to the UK’s reputation – although I know a lot of MPs would not care about that.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said the decision had been reviewed and the Home Secretary had committed to a review of the system to ensure it was “fair and humane”.

She said: “The UK Visa and Immigration service has a duty to keep citizens safe and the country secure and our visa requirements are one of the most effective means we have to do this.”