South Africa to be Stripped of Visa Free Status By Britain

Britain is likely to strip South Africa of its visa-free status this year because of rampant corruption in the Department of Home Affairs.

South Africans would have to fork out £63 (nearly US$142) and provide fingerprints, “facial biometrics” and travel documents to get visas.

More than 250 000 tourists, business people and family visitors to Britain would have to apply for visas each year.

The door is being shut because corrupt Home Affairs officials have been dishing out genuine passports to people smugglers, foreign asylum seekers and allegedly suspected terrorists wanting to enter Britain.

As a result, British immigration experts said, the South African passport was “no longer worth the paper it’s written on”.

South Africa jumped to the top of the British government’s visa “hit list” last month following a British trial that heard that at least 6000 illegal Asian immigrants had been smuggled in on South African passports.

Last week Sir Stephen Lander, chairman of Britain’s Serious Organized Crime Agency, told Britain’s Home Affairs Committee that the case “is likely” to lead to visa controls being placed on all South Africans.

British immigration authorities are currently subjecting South Africa, with other countries, to a “Visa Waiver Test”, expected to finish this year.

Experts said South Africa was almost certain to fail on three of the six key criteria due to crime and Home Affairs department corruption.

Cleo Mosana, spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, conceded on Sunday that there were “major issues about the integrity and credibility” of South African passports.

She said South Africa had met Britain to discuss the review.

Source African Press Agency

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