The UK's racist immigration policy is only about to get worse under the new Tory toffs who claim that their selectiveness will ensure that only the "brightest and the best" will enter. They say they want people to come to the UK who will benefit the UK rather than benefit from the UK.
What do they mean by the "brightest" and "the best"?
They mean people who can prove that their income is higher than the average Briton.
But what about tourism to the UK?
If you are European, from the U.S or a selection of south American and a few Asian countries then you don't need a visa for a visit of less than 6 months to the UK.
However, if you are from Africa or a less wealthy Asian or Latin American country then you need to pay £95 for a visa.
But what's the problem with that? We British have to pay for visas to many countries, like Russia and China.
The problem is that its not just a case of having your passport, photos, return journey details and cash for the visa itself.
You have to explain how much money you get each month and from where and show a bank statement from the last 6 months and book an appointment to register your biometric data.
How would you feel if you'd been living in Europe for the last 5 years and despite the fact that after a lot of sweat and tears you'd managed to obtain a European residency you could not enter in a country that is also part of Europe despite the fact that you have been living with a British citizen for the past two years, with a lawyers document to prove it.
You can apply online for the visitors visa, it's a long drawn out application which asks a series of intrusive and personal questions. Once you have answered all their questions you have to make an appointment at the bio-metric testing centre in your county of residence. But what if there is no appointment in the British Embassy for Spain for the whole of 2012 when you are applying in February? And the only telephone number provided by the UK border agency costs 14 euros to make the call?
After 4 attempts at filling out a 10 page document that will not move to the following page to continue the application until you select a date from a calender where there is no date available for the whole year, what could you do other than wait till Monday and try and make some calls to the embassies directly.
Good post. I agree that this policy is racist - why should people from certain countries have to pay, whereas people from other countries can just walk right in for free? But then I expected nothing less than this from the Tories.
ReplyDeleteHope you keep up the blog, some interesting thoughts and good poems!