Britain Confirms 3,000-Pound Cash Bond Visa Scheme for Nigeria & 5 other Countries

Britain’s Home Office confirmed Monday it will demand a 3,000-pound ($4,630) refundable bond for visas for “HIGH-RISK” visitors from six former colonies in Africa and Asia — a pilot scheme that has brought warnings at home and abroad that it will damage trade.

Britain said in a statement Monday that it will go ahead with the pilot scheme despite the outrage, charges of discrimination and warnings of retaliation.

The statement sent by email did not say when the pilot program would start. But it said it could apply the scheme in the future for all visas and any country.


For now, the targeted countries are Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Government data shows citizens of those countries applied for more than half a million visas to Britain last year.

Nigeria’s government made a formal demand last month that Britain renounce the proposal. Foreign Affairs Minister Olugbenga Ashiru called in the British high commissioner to express “the strong displeasure of the government and people of Nigeria” over the “discriminatory” policy.

Ashiru warned the move would “definitely negate” the two country’s commitment to double trade by 2014. Figures from Nigeria’s Ministry of Trade and Commerce show trade between the two countries increased nearly five-fold from $2.35 billion in 2010 to $11.57 billion last year, with the value of Nigerian imports of British goods doubling in that time.

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and a huge market with its more than 160 million people.

There was such an outcry in Nigeria when the scheme first was mooted last month that British High Commissioner Andrew Pocock put out a statement assuring that the pilot scheme would not affect most Nigerians.

“The vast majority would not be required to pay a bond,” Pocock said. He added that more than 180,000 Nigerians apply to visit Britain each year and about 70 percent around 126,000 get visas.