£ 3,000 cash bond to enter Britain for Sri Lankans
Monday, 24 June 2013 02:07
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Foreign visitors from six ‘high risk’ countries including Sri Lanka will have to pay a £3,000 (around Rs. 600,000) fee to enter Britain under a tough new crackdown on immigration abuse, the UK’s Sun newspaper reported yesterday.
A pilot scheme to be rolled out by British Home Secretary Theresa May in November will charge visitors from six African and Asian countries to come into the country.
The Australian-style tactics mean foreigners would lose the £ 3,000 cash bond if they overstay their visas.
The first scheme will cover Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Ghana.
Visitors from those countries will have to pay the bond as security against living here illegally.
May said: “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.”
She added: “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.”
The Home Office is targeting countries which have high volumes of visitor visa applications and what it deems to be relatively high levels of fraud and abuse.
