A leaked UK Home Office policy paper reveals that the government is planning to scrap the right of appeal for family visit visa’s potentially preventing more than 80 000 people visiting their British relatives.
A report in the British Guardian newspaper says senior Whitehall officials have already warned that “the move is considered highly controversial, particularly within Britain’s Asian communities, as well as being legally risky.”
Immigration Minister Damian Green has also been warned to expect protests from several commonwealth countries. The plans have been condemned as “as “discriminatory and mean” since “such visits often involved weddings, funerals and visits to dying relatives,” the Guardian report said.
More than 420,000 visa applications were made for temporary visits by close relatives of British families in 2010, at a cost of more than £70 each. Of the decisions made last year, 350,000 family visit visas were granted, 88,000 were turned down.
More than 63,000 of those who were refused, appealed against the decision and around 36% were allowed to come to Britain on appeal. The policy paper concedes the appeal success rate “might be perceived as high” but claims a large proportion of appeals are allowed because they involve the submission of further evidence.
Ministers also want to scrap the right of appeal for thousands of skilled migrant workers in Britain who want to extend or renew their visas under the points-based system. Additional reporting by the UK Guardian newspaper.
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