UK proposes to clamp down on non-EU tourist visas

Mickey S

The British government is to halve the time tourists from outside the EU can stay in the UK, from six months to three.

In addition, British citizens who "sponsor" a family member from outside the EU who wishes to visit Britain will need to put up a £1,000 cash bond, which would then be forfeited if the relative did not leave when the visa expired.

Full story.

Does India operate a reciprocal policy when it comes to visas (even an unoffical one)? If so, can we expect to see the time limit for UK visitors to India to be similarly reduced? (And, less likely, a Rs.80,000 "fine" for over-stayers?)

capt_mahajan

There is certainly an unofficial reciprocal policy; I don't know if there is any official one.

Whether it kicks in or not remains to be seen.

Nick-H

That is not quite the same as saying that they will do these things.

It is typical tabloid politics of the kind that British governments seem to love. Perhaps such stuff really does earn votes; that speaks very ill of the British people.

Does anybody know how long the current 6-month/180-day stay visa for Brits visiting India has been around? I think more than ten years, at the very least, and I am sure that this is not the first such "tightening up" stunt to be pulled by a UK govt in that time.

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shere

The problem in terms of people staying on in India is minor compared to that in the UK. I know of at least 30 people who have overstayed on tourists visas in the UK. They come here to make a living and some work in very bad conditions.

The £1000 is too little. People smugglers charge 6lakh upwards to get people into the UK from Punjab via very dangerous overland routes so £1000 is no problem. Its cheaper than going via a smuggler.

Mickey S

But if someone intends to overstay then the length of their tourist visa will surely have no bearing on their decision? This proposal makes absolutely no sense to me.

shashank.aggarwal

Overall this statement has not India at its center and covers all other countries in the world outside the EU..

And I also agree with Shere that the problem of overstaying in UK would be much larger than in India...

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Nick-H

Mickey S: Yes, this is politician's logic which, of course, does not work in the real world. It's nonsense.

Shere: I don't see what difference the bond makes to people smugglers. It does make life so much harder for many ordinary families and visitors.

Shashank: as a boss of mine used to say, 'I don't descrimate, I offend everybody' (he was right) --- yes, I guess this would/will affect much more than just India.

pontesnm

Currently, the UK just gives a max of 1-year visas to Indians in India and charges them Rs 17,000. The US gives 10-year visas and charges very much less. For Indian citizens in India, visas to US are much cheaper than visas to UK.

raaz

Absolutely rubbish.......apart from being a rule( to win votes & cause trouble for genuine visitors ). It wont produce any result at all.
Another reason to believe why politicians are bonkers all over the world.

ranjan154

It is the new feather in the cap to keep the foreigners entry in a western country as difficult as possible.

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shere

Bonds are great things for people smugglers. I can put up a 1K bond get 20 people over, charge them 8lakh rupees each, I make 7 lakh a man without breaking a sweat.

Mickey S

Are you actually saying that you do this?

the opoponax

I think she means that this would be easy to do, anybody immoral enough could do this, smugglers definitely would, etc.

And, yes, this is quite obviously a ploy to win the support of xenophobic people who don't want 'foreigners' to be able to come to the UK easily or stay very long. The 180 days to 90 days sounds big, but it wouldn't really make much difference. If you intended to overstay, the number of days you could legally stay wouldn't really affect your decision.

shere

No I dont but I know plenty of people who would be more than willing to cough up RS 8 lakh+ to get into the UK direct.

Also it is Shere as in Shere Singh (Tiger) not shere as in sherie.

Jasmin

I don't know if this proposed law will come into effect or not. But I think it's full of flaws. Didn't the UK government try to implement this about 8 years ago? It didn't fly then.

There's a few thing that don't seem to make sense. Most of the people that are overstaying at the moment are in the EU, from Eastern European countries. So this law is not going to stop or deter them in anyway. I think the number of people from India, China etc. who try to overstay is very small in comparison to those from the EU itself.

And I don't see why anyone from the US, Canada, Austraila, New Zealand would want to overstay or try to live in the UK permanently, to be honest, what would be the point?

Which brings me to my next question. By non-EU members are they also including those from the US, Canada etc too? Those who at present, don't need a visa to go to Britain? All in all, it all seems a little fishy to me.

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