Now, due to the influx, civil servants are struggling to handle the record number of applications.
But only 478 of the 33,737 applications were processed on time.
Meanwhile, some 50,257 fee-dodging migrants are awaiting their applications to be processed and to reach a conclusion.
In the first 18 months of Labour’s time in Government, 70,916 waivers were doled out to applicants, jumping up by 57 per cent in the final year and a half of the Tories’ time in Whitehall.
