UK Threatens to Suspend Visas For Countries ‘Not Cooperating’ With Deportation

London: Concerns that powers enabling home secretary to ‘blackmail’ countries into accepting returns could provoke tit-for-tat visa suspensions targeting British citizens. The government is threatening to stop granting visas to citizens of countries that are “not cooperating” with attempted deportations from the UK. Proposals contained in amendments to the controversial Nationality and Borders Bill would allow Priti Patel to slow or suspend visa services, or increase charges, based on her “opinion” and any matters she “considers appropriate”. Some have described such actions as a form of blackmail.

Campaigners described the power to suspend visas as “simply oppressive”, and there are concerns that such measures could spark tit-for-tat diplomatic retaliation, affecting British citizens wanting to travel for work, holidays or to see family. The law, being added to the bill more than three months after it was published, would apply if countries refused to take back failed asylum seekers, foreign national offenders, or those deemed to have no legal right to remain in the UK. The Home Office has not said how many people they are unable to deport because of a lack of cooperation, or specified which countries are not cooperating. Other government amendments to the bill, revealed on Friday, include the proposed use of X-rays on asylum seekers accused of lying about their age, in order to “scientifically” assess how old they are.

Lizzie Dearden, Independent, https://is.gd/u6cufn