The British government has back pedaled on its visa bond
plan for ‘high risk’ first time visitors from Nigeria and five other African
and Asian countries.
The proposal envisaged the payment
of £3000 bond by the “high-risk” visitors from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka and Ghana which would be forfeited if the visitor fails to return home.
The countries criticised the
proposal as discriminatory. The federal government vowed to retaliate if it was
implemented.
They received the support of Nick
Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats – the junior partner in the ruling
coalition in the United Kingdom – who said his party would oppose the idea.
British Home Office confirmed
yesterday that the policy had been dropped.
“The government has been considering
whether we pilot a bond scheme that would deter people from overstaying the
visa. We have decided not to proceed,” a Home Office statement said.
The spokesperson refused to answer
questions on the reasons behind the sudden turnaround.
The proposal was mooted in March by
Home Secretary Theresa May, who followed up with some highly unpopular public
campaigns — one of the most hated being the Home Office poster vans to
immigrant areas that exhorted illegal immigrants to “go home or face arrest.”
All this to meet her target of reducing immigration figures by 1,00,000 this
year.
The scheme’s introduction was viewed
as the government’s way of upstaging the United Kingdom Independence Party that
is being seen as building its support on an anti-immigration platform.
Media reports suggest that the
scrapping the proposal was because it would have been blocked by Deputy Prime
Minister Clegg.
The government also realised that
the scheme would deter investment and the flow of genuine tourists from these
countries.
Even large brands, like Harrods for
example, criticised the plan on the grounds that it would deter luxury shoppers
— particularly rich Nigerian tourists who flock to Harrods — from coming to the
U.K.
The scheme caused outrage in the
countries that it would have impacted. It was condemned with equal force by
immigrant groups within the U.K. It had the support of Veerendar Sharma, Labour
MP representing Southall and Ealing.
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Politics