It is now official. Starting from November 2013, Nigerian and Kenyan visitors to the UK including four other countries from Asia ( India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh), will be required to pay a £3000,00 tourist visa bond before they will be allowed into the country.
The countries whose citizens are required to pay this sum has been categorised as a “high risk” to the UK . According to official data, these six countries accounted for over half a million visa applications to the UK in 2012.
There has been an outcry about the since it was announced in June that citizens of Six Common Wealth (Nigeria, India, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh) will be made to pay a £3000 deposit for a UK tourist visa. It was tagged a “discriminatory policy.”
According to a report by the Financial Times “Britain is pressing ahead with its trial of a scheme to make visitors from six countries pay a £3000 bond, despite an international backlash and complaints from businesses. The government said it would begin a trial of the scheme in November to impose visa restrictions on six Commonwealth nations, including India and Nigeria, even though David Cameron poured cold water on the scheme in June after it provoked uproar in Delhi.”
The British Home office now claims that the scheme will be highly selective and target only suspicious applicants. First-time visitors and those seeking a six-month visitors visa from the affected countries will be required to deposit a cash bond of £3,000 for a British visa.
ALSO SEE: UK Backs Down On £3,000 Visa Bonds.
The financial Times also reported that the UK business communities is unpleased with this new policy as they feel it will affect their businesses, especially luxury goods retailers who are patronised by wealthy tourist from countries such as Nigeria and India. At the moment, Nigerians are the 6th biggest spender on luxury goods in Britain.