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Thread: SA citizens may need a visa to visit the UK.

  1. #1
    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    SA citizens may need a visa to visit the UK.

    Our international fall from grace continues, this time thanks to corrupution in the Department of Home Affairs.
    The United Kingdom is "likely" to strip South Africa of its "visa-free" status this year because of rampant corruption in the Department of Home Affairs, the Sunday Times reported.

    South Africans would have to pay £63 (nearly R1 000) and provide fingerprints, "facial biometrics" and travel documents to obtain visas, the newspaper said.

    More than 250 000 tourists, business people and family visitors to Britain would have to apply for visas each year.

    "The door is being shut because corrupt home affairs officials have been dishing out genuine passports to people-smugglers, foreign asylum seekers and -- allegedly -- suspected terrorists wanting to enter Britain," the report said.

    As a result, British immigration experts said, the South African passport was "no longer worth the paper it's written on".

    South Africa leapt to the top of the British government's visa "hit list" last month following a British trial that heard that at least 6 000 illegal Asian immigrants had been smuggled into Britain on South African passports.
    full story from M&G here

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Maybe this is an annual story
    Britain's Home Office is imposing tougher visa requirements on South Africans as it seeks to combat emerging new terror fronts.

    Home Secretary Jacqui Smith says South Africans will need a visa to enter Britain in the future. They do not require one now.

    The change follows concern that terrorists are exploiting the availability of stolen or forged South African passports.
    full story from M&G here

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    Bronze Member msmoorad's Avatar
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    sick of it

    i sincerely wish that 99% of the Indians,Pakis ,bangladeshis, somalians, nigerians, senegalese & all the other foreigners are sent home.
    in sick & tired of them
    does that make me a racist- i dont think so.
    if you white people said that,you would be called racist.lol
    but im not the only one- many indians here feel the same way way about these illegal aliens.
    one of the reasons is that they exploit the existence of crooked home affairs employees & give us a bad name internationally.
    another reason is that they are FILTHY!

    so dont think we love them just cos they are Indian etc.
    PS- there is the 1% that are really good guys and i dont mind them staying here (even illegally!)

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    Well, now it is official.
    The British authorities have announced that South Africans wanting to visit Britain will have to have visas from next month. Any South African who has already been to Britain, using his or her current passport however will not have to get a visa until later in the year.

    News of the restriction was broken in the National Assembly to South Africans by Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula. She was greeted by cries of "it is an indictment", a piece of heckling with which she surprisingly agreed, although she tried to make it a more general criticism of the South African public than of her department.

    She told members that the announcement was being made in the British House of Commons that afternoon and that South Africa recognises the right of the UK government to do so. She said the two governments will be keeping in touch on the matter and her department will be doing its best to address the UK concerns over the security of South African passports.
    full story from M&G here
    Not that SA/UK relations are in trouble. It seems to be a systems problem.
    Government on Tuesday admitted there were "some problems" with its passport-authorisation systems that had led to the United Kingdom imposing a visa requirement on South Africans travelling to that country.

    "We as a country, and I think the Department of Home Affairs, will be the first to admit that there have been some problems in our ... authorisation system," foreign affairs director general Ayanda Ntsaluba told a media briefing in Cape Town.

    The UK on Monday announced all South African visitors would require a visa, citing a need to "strengthen its borders" as the reason for the move, set to affect about 420 000 travellers.

    "Abuse of the South African passport remains a serious concern," the British High Commission in Pretoria said on Monday afternoon.
    full story from M&G here
    I guess we were given a year to clean up our act and time's up.

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    just me duncan drennan's Avatar
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    I like that phrase, "strengthen our borders." With references to terrorists and so forth it all seems very kosher, and with flaws in our passport issuing system I can't fault them.

    Another thought crosses my mind though: to what degree are any border loopholes being closed as a form of protectionism?
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    Silver Member Graeme's Avatar
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    I can only hope that we don't sink to the level of a "tit-for-tat" response.

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    Site Caretaker Dave A's Avatar
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    This story suggests there is more to the visa problem and relations may indeed be a little strained for a variety of reasons.

    But sticking to the main reason supplied:
    In July last year the British government told Pretoria that the threat of terrorism had led to a re-evaluation of the visa waiver and this week it was announced that South Africa had failed the visa waiver test, while Namibia and Botswana had passed.

    British officials gave the South African home affairs department six months to fix the passport system which, by South Africa's own admission, is rife with corruption.

    Home affairs officials, however, insist this cannot be done in short order. "How can we root out corruption overnight?" asked home affairs spokesperson Cleo Mosana.
    Probably even tougher when the top leadership of the ruling party is soft on corruption in the first place

    And how about this for the "pass the buck" game?
    A senior South African home affairs official, who chose to remain anonymous, complained that Britain had wanted to deport illegal immigrants with South African passports to South Africa en masse.

    "They never gave us a list so that we could check whether these people are truly from South Africa or whether they fraudulently obtained the passports. So they wanted to send them all to us, thousands of them. And we said no, we are no dumping ground for your problems."
    Well, if we won't take responsibility for people with South African passports, can we be surprised at the UK reponse? I'd also develop an FU attitude faced with that response.

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