Quite simply useless

The latest from the UK Borders Agency. Unable to respond to 150,000 cases of overstay - misleading Parliament - what an embarrassment to the country as a whole.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20536551
We've seen Scottish Guy's posts re: the failure of his Vietnamese boyfriend's (well founded) visa application. IMHO they're not "clamping down" on visa applications to keep Daily Mail readers happy - they're doing it in a rather pathetic attempt to hide the fact that they are wholly incapable of doing their job. Because of their incompetence, the only targets available to them are people who engage in the legitimate visa process. They're incapable of finding anyone else.

So their fully funded high staffing levels but incompetent or underfunded and struggling? You get what you pay for.