Britain Demands Cash Bonds for Visas From 6 States
July 29, 2013
Britain's Home Office confirmed Monday it will demand a 3,000-pound ($4,630) refundable bond for visas for "high-risk" visitors from six former colonies in Africa and Asia — a pilot scheme that has brought warnings at home and abroad that it will damage trade. Britain said in a statement Monday that it will go ahead with the pilot scheme despite the outrage, charges of discrimination and warnings of retaliation. The statement sent by email did not say when the pilot program would start. But it said it could apply the scheme in the future for all visas and any country. "The pilot will apply to visitor visas, but if the scheme is successful we'd like to be able to apply it on an intelligence-led basis on any visa route and any country," it said.
For now, the targeted countries are Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Government data shows citizens of those countries applied for more than half a million visas to Britain last year. There were protests in India last month when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited, causing him to declare that a final decision had not been taken on the policy. The Home Office said it hopes the bond system deters overstaying of visas and recovers costs of foreign nationals using public services like hospitals and schools. Immigration was a key issue in Cameron's election campaign for his Conservative Party. Cameron has pledged to cut net immigration from 252,000 a year in 2010 to 100,000 a year by 2015.
The Home Office statement said the visa bond "is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain."
July 29, 2013
Britain's Home Office confirmed Monday it will demand a 3,000-pound ($4,630) refundable bond for visas for "high-risk" visitors from six former colonies in Africa and Asia — a pilot scheme that has brought warnings at home and abroad that it will damage trade. Britain said in a statement Monday that it will go ahead with the pilot scheme despite the outrage, charges of discrimination and warnings of retaliation. The statement sent by email did not say when the pilot program would start. But it said it could apply the scheme in the future for all visas and any country. "The pilot will apply to visitor visas, but if the scheme is successful we'd like to be able to apply it on an intelligence-led basis on any visa route and any country," it said.
For now, the targeted countries are Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Government data shows citizens of those countries applied for more than half a million visas to Britain last year. There were protests in India last month when British Prime Minister David Cameron visited, causing him to declare that a final decision had not been taken on the policy. The Home Office said it hopes the bond system deters overstaying of visas and recovers costs of foreign nationals using public services like hospitals and schools. Immigration was a key issue in Cameron's election campaign for his Conservative Party. Cameron has pledged to cut net immigration from 252,000 a year in 2010 to 100,000 a year by 2015.
The Home Office statement said the visa bond "is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain."
I'm guessing that these six "high risk" countries comprise the majority of visa overstays in Britain.
Bound to ruffle a lot of feathers, but I can understand the motivation.
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