[ 2013-06-23 ]

UK plans visa bonds for 'high-risk' Asians, Africans
LONDON (AFP) - Britain is planning to force
visitors from India, Pakistan, Nigeria 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 - AFP

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