Banks in the United Kingdom have agreed with the country’s government to carry out immigration checks on bank accounts to root out illegal immigrants. Building societies will also look through 70 million current accounts from January to identity people who are living in Britain illegally.The UK’s Home Office expects to identify 6,000 visa overstayers, failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders facing deportation in the first year of the checks, which are to be carried out quarterly. The accounts of those identified will be shut down or frozen.Officials say freezing accounts that hold significant sums ‘will create a powerful incentive [for those involved] to agree to voluntary departure’ so they can secure their money once they have left the country. The Home Office said it had announced the plans in 2016.Photo Credit: Getty