UK visa bond only for applicants assessed as high risk
New Delhi : Britain “is and will remain open” for business, students, and Indian tourists, the British High Commissioner Sir James Bevan has written to Outbound Tour Operators Association of India (OTAOI).
“Much of the media reporting about this issue has been misleading or simply wrong… Britain is and will remain open: for business, for students, and for the hundreds of thousands of Indian visitors and tourists who come to the UK every year,” he said in response to OTOAI’s letter dated August 2, chronicling the association’s concerns about the possible visa bond scheme.
Bevan wrote that they have an “excellent visa service in India”.“…12 application centres (more than any other country), fast turnaround, and a positive approach: nine out of ten Indians who apply for a UK visa get one. And we are constantly seeking to improve our service, for example with the new same-day visa we launched recently: India is the first country in the world with this service,” he wrote.
Bewan wrote that, they are committed to “tackling abuse of” their immigration rules.“As part of that, the UK government is considering a pilot scheme which would test the impact of requiring a financial bond from certain visa applicants to deter them from overstaying their visa,” he said.
He clarified that no decisions have been taken on the details of how such a scheme would work. Any such scheme would be tightly targeted on a small number of visa applicants assessed as high risk, and designed in a way that does not cut across the UK’s wish to remain open for business, students and tourists, he said.
Responding to the reply he received, Guldeep Singh Sahni, President, OTOAI told India Tourism Review, “This letter indicates that the British government is reviewing and reconsidering their decision. The problem was that the travel fraternity was not addressed directly regarding this issue, but with this letter, we have highlighted the concerns on behalf of the whole travel trade community.”- India Tourism review
