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British MPs warned that Britain's visitor visa system was "broken" and was causing "serious damage" to relations between the United Kingdom and Africa.
The problems faced by experts attempting to travel to the UK are so widespread that many Africans believe that the Home Office is prejudiced against them and deliberately attempts to reduce the number of visitors.
After six months of interrogation with people working in various sectors, multiparty parliamentary groups for Africa, Malawi and the Diaspora, reports on development and migration indicate that British visitor visas are "inaccessible to many Africans, without resources, inexplicable and widely perceived as biased or even discriminating Africans ".
Labor MP Chi Onwurah, chair of the multi-stakeholder group for Africa, said: "At a time when the UK needs to be" open to business ", the broken visa system is seriously undermining relations between the Kingdom and the United Kingdom. United and Africa Sectors It is embarrbading, condescending and insulting to African candidates and leaves the slogan of "Global Britain" empty and meaningless.
"Many who testified felt that UKVI's systems in Africa … were seeking to create … barriers and obstacles in the applicants' journey, in order to deliberately reduce the number of applications received, while moreover in addition to people are returned to the UK. "
In one case, major producers at the London International Theater Festival told the committee that they were not able to bring in a dancer from Congo to present his personal experience of the civil war. The reason given for the refusal was that they had not done enough to recruit UK dancers for the role.
One of the problems faced by visa applicants was to travel hundreds of kilometers just to apply for a visa. Another was financial discrimination, such as those rejected because they did not have enough money in their bank accounts. This was given as a ground for refusal even when all expenses were paid by British sponsors.
The absence of appeal system has also been cited as a major problem, which means that the only way to challenge a refusal is to start again with a new expensive application.
There are specialized centers for visa applications, which must be made in person, and for the examination of applications. Since 2007, when this system was put in place, the UK government has closed visa sections in high commissions and embbadies.
Information obtained during the multi-stakeholder survey showed that there were more than two major decision-making centers for the whole of Africa, one in Pretoria and one in Croydon. According to the report, this means that decisions are made "thousands of kilometers from the place of application … and far from the expertise, context and local knowledge that could previously be provided by local embbadies".
Last month, the Guardian spoke to several African researchers about "arbitrary" reasons they received for failed UK visa applications. In addition to being rejected for having too little money, some candidates were told that they had too much money or because they did not have children because they risked "not going home. ".
In April, a team of six Sierra Leonean researchers on the Ebola virus was denied training in the United Kingdom, funded by the Wellcome Trust as part of a flagship pandemic preparedness program. £ 1.5m. In the same month, only one of the 25 researchers attending a workshop at the London School of Economics summit in Africa was present.
Many of those who testified for the report mentioned one of the main issues raised, namely the seemingly hostile and incredulous nature of many refusals. A highly experienced researcher on the Ebola virus who refused a visa in the United Kingdom was informed: "In all probability, we do not think you are a researcher."
The President of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations cultural agency, recently warned that major conferences would be held outside the United Kingdom in because of visa difficulties. The LSE and the University of Susbad are already organizing conferences outside the UK to avoid visa delays and refusals, even when the conferences are funded by the UK government.
The authors of the report stated that the problems inherent in the system were "easily correctable", suggesting faster processing for people traveling long distances, as well as the end of financial requirements for visitors fully funded by UK institutions.
MEPs also said that refusal letters should be examined more carefully before being sent in order to avoid any bias or partial hypothesis.
Onwurah said: "It must be recognized that no problem harms the image or influence of the United Kingdom in Africa more than this issue of visas."
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