Britain is planning to force visitors from Nigeria, India, Pakistan, and other countries whose nationals are deemed to pose a “high risk” of immigration abuse to provide a cash bond before they can enter the country, a report said Sunday.
The Sunday Times newspaper said that from November, a pilot scheme would target visitors from those three countries plus Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ghana.
Visitors aged 18 and over would be forced to hand over £3,000 ($4,600, 3,500 euros) from November for a six-month visit visa.
They will forfeit the money if they overstay in Britain after their visa has expired.
Initially the scheme will target hundreds of visitors, but the plan is to extend it to several thousand, according to the broadsheet’s front-page report.
The weekly paper said the move by Home Secretary Theresa May is designed to show that Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative Party is serious about cutting immigration and abuses of the system.
The populist United Kingdom Independence Party has been encroaching on the Conservatives’ traditional core vote in recent months.
Cameron wants annual net migration down below 100,000 by 2015.
“This 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,” May was quoted as saying.
“In the long run we’re interested in a system of bonds that deters overstaying and recovers costs if a foreign national has used our public services.”
A Home Office official said the six countries highlighted were those with “the most significant risk of abuse”.
Last year 296,000 people granted six-month visas were from India, 101,000 from Nigeria, 53,000 from Pakistan and 14,000 each were from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
Source: PM News
UPDATE: We Will Respond - FG
The Foreign Affairs Minister stated this in Abuja.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Olugbenga Ashiru, said the Federal Government will not hesitate to defend the interest of Nigerians on consular related issues with foreign countries.
Mr. Ashiru gave the assurance on Monday in Abuja following a proposal by the U.K. to introduce a bond of 3,000 pounds (N750, 000) for intending visitors from Nigeria and five other countries. Visa applicants are expected to pay the bond, which will be returned to them if they do not overstay their visa approvals.
Responding to a question at the 2013 Ministerial Platform, Mr. Ashiru said that the U.K. government was yet to officially notify Nigeria on the proposal, scheduled to start in November.
“Really, we have received no official communication from the U.K. government,” he said.
“When we receive communication from them, we will study whatever proposal they are trying to do but I can assure all Nigerians that President Jonathan’s government will defend the interest of Nigerians by whatever means it can.’’
The minister admitted that the biggest challenge facing the present administration’s foreign policy thrust was the welfare of Nigerians abroad. He said Nigerian missions abroad had been directed to pay utmost attention to the needs of Nigerians abroad, particularly the plight of Nigerians in various prisons abroad.
Mr. Ashiru acknowledged that many Nigerians were stranded abroad in prisons and that the affected Nigerians had continued to suffer various forms of discriminations in their host countries. He said over 9000 Nigerians are currently serving prisons terms abroad, with the largest number of 752 in the UK.
“Most of the remaining prisoners are concentrated in the Asia – Pacific region and a good number of them are on death row.
“We are concluding Prisoners’ Transfer Agreement (PTA) with all those countries, such as United Kingdom, Thailand, Japan, China, Indonesia, Switzerland, South Africa, Mozambique, Angola and Hong Kong, so that we can bring home these Nigerians to complete their prison terms.
“I wish to seize this opportunity to appeal to members of different groups; the media, civil societies, religious groups, traditional rulers, etc, to join hands in the education of our youths in an enlightenment campaign against trafficking in drugs, in particular, and other social vices in general.
“This assignment should not be left alone to Governments at different levels to handle.’’
On the much-talked about reopening of Information Centres abroad, the minister appealed to the Federal Ministry of Information to ensure proper funding for the centres.
“All I will appeal is that when it starts, they must be well funded; I do not want cases where you send information officers abroad and after nine months or six months the funding will be tied.
“You must ensure proper funding and we in the ministry of foreign affairs are in favour of this move because three or four heads are better than one. We believe that the more experts we have to help with image promotion, the better for us.’’
Source: NAN
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