The British Embassy Abu Dhabi has a vacancy for an International Liaison Assistant (AO) working for the Home Office International Operations Team (HOIO) on a fixed-term contract for one year with the possibility of renewal.

Home Office International Operations (HOIO) operates to deliver upstream interventions, intelligence, capabilities, and partnerships to protect the UK from harm. We have approximately 270 staff deployed across 40 countries and 50 staff in the UK.

HOIO has responsibility for identifying threats to the UK Border, preventing inadequately documented passengers travelling to the UK, identifying visa abuse, and preventing illegal commodities (drugs, cash, firearms) destined for the UK via passenger or freight. We work with UK and international law enforcement agencies to tackle these crimes, primarily through preventing the travel of inadequately documented passengers to the UK; enhancing visa decision quality; identifying and tackling underlying criminality and providing intelligence on threats to the UK border.  HOIO also undertakes Capacity Building projects with international partners, so they are able to identify victims of Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation.

The team in Abu Dhabi is part of a wider Middle East Regional team, which also comprises of a team in Dubai – United Arab Emirates and Doha – Qatar. We work closely with the Pakistan Regional team, based in Islamabad.  Collaborative work and assistance with other teams in the region is essential to the role and the successful candidate may be required to travel to these locations.

The International Liaison Assistant (ILA) works alongside and provides administrative support to the International Liaison Manager (ILM) and International Liaison Officers (ILOs) to detect visa abuse and forgery trends and to engage with other stakeholders to combat organised immigration crime (OIC.)

The ILA role is extremely varied. The challenge with all HOIO work is to deliver both the reactive elements such as air calls and requests for support from visa sections, and the pro-active elements such as research and liaison with stakeholders. ILAs need be able to manage very challenging workloads, deliver at pace to tight deadlines and be flexible in support of business aims. Once trained, the successful candidate should be able to work towards objectives with minimal supervision.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Detecting and preventing abuse within the UK visa application process, and identifying and disrupting the activity of the organised crime groups behind it
• Using Home Office databases to prioritise and action allegations from the public, and wider internal and external partners in accordance with relevant legislation, disseminating information, and identifying and alerting the ILOs and ILM when further action is required
• Identifying patterns and forged/ counterfeit documents including travel documents (passports) as well as all documents used in support of visa applications
• Analysing available evidence to identify necessary verification checks
• Maintaining HOIO records of visa abuse and forgery trends
• Ensuring information is readily available and easily accessible to Entry Clearance Officers (ECOs) and Entry Clearance Assistants (ECAs) by developing/ updating relevant information systems including local data lists and Risk Profiles;
• Conducting verification checks against relevant databases and local establishments (UK, UAE and Pakistan based) as required and with the agreement of the ILO/ ILM
• Carrying out compliance research as necessary and reporting on findings;
• Liaising with Law Enforcement Agencies, Government Ministries, and other stakeholders in the UK and UAE, other regional states, and other countries for completion of strategic/ tactical taskings
• Handling sensitive material with the upmost regard for protecting information and confidentiality
• Providing administrative support to the ILOs
• Dealing with HOIO correspondence.

The above list is not exhaustive, and the jobholder will be required to be flexible and take on other ad hoc tasks as required, including participating in the Embassy’s emergency planning and any other response to a crisis affecting UK citizens.  

Eligibility

Applicants must be able to obtain an appropriate level of UK Security Clearance, higher clearances can be granted only to certain nationalities. For this reason, candidates must be of British, American, Australian, Canadian or New Zealand nationality in order to gain and maintain the level of clearance.

Key behaviours required:

• Delivering at Pace – Take responsibility for delivering timely and quality results with focus and drive.
• Making Effective Decisions – Use evidence and knowledge to support accurate, expert decisions and advice. Carefully consider alternative options, implications and risks of decisions.
• Seeing the Big Picture – Understand how your role fits with and supports organisational objectives. Recognise the wider Civil Service priorities and ensure work is in the national interest
• Working Together – Form effective partnerships and relationships with people both internally and externally, from a range of diverse backgrounds, sharing information, resources and support.
• Managing a Quality Service – Deliver service objectives with professional excellence, expertise and efficiency, taking account of diverse customer needs.
• Changing and Improving – Seek out opportunities to create effective change and suggest innovative ideas for improvement. Review ways of working, including seeking and providing feedback.

• Strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills
• A high level of written and spoken English with the ability to write high quality reports and briefings.
• Computer literate with Microsoft desktop functions (e.g. Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Explorer) at a level where you can: create, use and interrogate complex templates, tables, data-sets on Home Office and FCDO IT platforms
• Strong organisational and time management skills with a flexible approach to allocation of tasks
• An ability to work under pressure with minimal supervision.