2nd February 2000
The Muslim Council of Britain is strongly opposed to the Government’s scheme to introduce financial bonds for visitors coming to Britain. Plans to start the scheme with visitors from the sub-continent are particularly unjust and discriminatory. The MCB sees this scheme as divisive and objects to it on the grounds that it will create undue emotional and inancial hardship on the majority of families least able to bear this onerous and cumbersome burden.
Visitors from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh applying for visas to Britain already face stringent rules and regulations. The financial bond scheme will force many people to abandon any attempts to sponsor relatives or friends in their homelands due to the complicated procedure of filing applications and the large sum of £5000 needed to be deposited in cash upfront. This is another way of saying, “Don’t even think of visiting Britain,” to people whose income often does not exceed £500 a year!
Such schemes are bound to have a negative effect on race relations in this country. People from deprived communities most in need of support will feel that they have been unfairly targeted once again! If at all, why not start the scheme with visitors from countries like Australia and New Zealand?
The Muslim Council of Britain appeals to the Government to abandon this scheme and instead to implement a fair policy that would improve the present system of dealing with applications from family visitors.
It also suggests that the Government embarks on a re-training policy for its entry clearance officers in order to make them more aware of and sensitive to the cultural diversity and needs of people applying to visit to Britain.
Background note:
The MCB had registered its strong opposition to the Bond Scheme for Visitors in its comment (dated 2 December 1999) to the Consultative Document from the Immigration & Nationality Policy Directorate. It was pointed out that the history of immigration control is riddled with grave injustices suffered by people from the Sub-Continent and suggested that yet again they are being targeted for an oppressive and unfair regime. The MCB’s comment also stated that. The assumption in the Consultative Document that people from the Sub-Continent are somehow less trustworthy and/or that they are more likely to abuse immigration control is not based on fact but was rooted in the evil of racism that this Government is so fully committed to.
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