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Indians can go to UK as they did yesterday

British Minister of State Keith Vaz Tuesday clarified that the United Kingdom would not ask visa seekers from the subcontinent to furnish a bond of 10,000 pounds, as was reported by a section of the media.

"Reports about a bond scheme applicable to Indians seeking visa to visit the UK are utter rubbish. People who are applying for visas will apply tomorrow as they did today and yesterday. There will no change," he declared.

The minister, who is of Indian origin and hails from Goa, said the present government has a proposal for those whose applications are rejected. Giving figures for India, from where the largest number of applications are made, he said that 16 per cent are rejected.

"Earlier, a person whose application was rejected could appeal to a judge, and 50 per cent of such appeals to the court were allowed. [But] the previous Conservative government of John Major abolished the right to appeal," he said.

Vaz, who is the minister of state for Europe and entry clearance in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said that it was his Labour government's endeavour to find a way around this ban.

"The Labour government was inundated with requests from various people in Britain who offered to provide guarantee money to enable those denied visas," he said.

His government, Vaz continued, has circulated a note that it is planning to undertake a pilot project to test whether such a scheme, wherein a rejected visa applicant or his relatives, can provide a bond to be held as a deposit to allow him to visit the UK. The deposit would be returned when the applicant returns.

"Let me make it very clear that this project has not been implemented nor is it to be implemented now. At present, we are still discussing the modalities and we plant to choose a couple of cities where applications are received for a pilot test of this project," he said.

The minister said the cities where the test would be carried out had not yet been identified, though a senior British official in New Delhi had Monday claimed that this scheme would be first implemented in Bombay and New Delhi.

"I think my officer made a mistake. We as yet have no plan to implement this scheme and the details for its implementation are being worked out," he said.

Vaz said the test might be in one or two cities worldwide, or in a city or two per continent ("which I favour").

"If, and I repeat if, India is chosen for this pilot test, you will be informed at the appropriate time," he said.

The minister insisted that even if an Indian city is chosen, the test will not be confined to India alone. The UK has 168 posts across the world for issuing visas; other centres too would be part of the test.

"Before this scheme is implemented, the high commissioner will meet the host government and explain its aspects to clear any misunderstanding," he added.

Vaz said he was deeply hurt by the allegations in the media that his government was racially biased and had therefore chosen India to test the scheme.

"For all my political life, I have strongly supported the cause of getting visas to visit the UK an easier task, and the Labour government and its leaders have no racial prejudice," he declared.

"The Labour government is trying hard to make it easier for Indians married to UK citizens to get visas to settle in the UK. Within the first year of Labour coming to power, we abolished the 'purpose' rule to help Indian spouses go to Britain," he said.

According to Vaz, the maximum number of visas are issued from the missions in Bombay and New Delhi. Besides, in India visas are also given out from Madras and Calcutta.

In 1999, Bombay received 72,203 applications and issued 65,653 visas; the figures for New Delhi were 66,822 and 56,074 respectively; Madras 26,003 and 26120 respectively, and Calcutta 9,545 and 9,405 respectively.

The all-India figures for 1999 are: applications received, 175,664; visas issued, 157,330.

Vaz said to ease the burden on the British missions and to make it easier for visa seekers, he was planning to set up visa counters in two more cities in India, namely Ahmedabad and Chandigarh.

"The maximum number of applications come from the regions of Gujarat and Punjab. This move will thus make it easier for the applicants, who often have to travel long distances to get visas," he said.

He added that the British government was not planning to set up missions in these two cities, only centres that issue visas.

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