The UK government warns Angola, Namibia and DR Congo with visa restrictions unless they accept returns of irregular migrants and criminals.
LONDON: The UK government has threatened visa bans on three African countries unless they accept the return of irregular migrants.
Britain will stop granting visas to nationals from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo unless they accept returns of “their criminals and illegal immigrants,” the interior ministry stated.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood was expected to announce what the government calls the “most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in modern times”.
Immigration has become a bitterly divisive issue in Britain, fuelling support for the hard-right Reform UK party.
Mahmood’s measures aim to curb asylum seekers crossing the Channel from France on small boats.
The Home Office said the three countries face penalties for their “unacceptably low cooperation and obstructive returns processes”.
Home Office minister Alex Norris told Sky News the countries had “one month to get this in order”.
The government will consider similar measures against other countries with an “emergency brake” on visas for nations with high asylum claim rates.
Other planned measures will end automatic benefits for asylum seekers and reduce protections for refugees.
Refugee status will be cut from five years to 30 months under contentious proposals condemned by charities and Labour lawmakers.
Refugees will have protection “regularly reviewed” and must return home once countries are deemed safe.
They must wait 20 years instead of five before applying for permanent residency.
“We should be welcoming and integrating and not creating this situation of kind of perpetual limbo and alienation,” Labour MP Tony Vaughan told the BBC. – AFP
