UK visa process “arrogant and racist” says ETOA
Sunday, 15 Mar, 2011
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The UK visa system paints the British as “over-cautious, a little arrogant and slightly racist” and means hundreds of thousands of would-be visitors abandon their travel plans, according to the European Tour Operators Association.
In what ETOA itself calls a “surly and alienating” process, Chinese tourists to the UK must visit a visa processing centre which can be up to 500 miles away, complete a form in English, be photographed and fingerprinted and then interviewed and charged £70 – all with no guarantee of a visa.
A statement from ETOA says: “The offensiveness of this process is keenly felt, particularly in societies where individual dignity is important.”
What’s more, if they wish to visit Ireland as well, they have to buy two separate multiple entry visas even though there is noone to check the visas when they travel between the UK and Ireland.
In a visa survey conducted by ETOA, respondents registered “high dissatisfaction” with the visa process with many abandoning the application halfway through.
Some 20% of people surveyed from various source markets said the UK had the worst visa processing service.
Said ETOA executive director Tom Jenkins: “The new Tourism Strategy, launched ten days ago, acknowledges that there are difficulties. But the scale of the problem is such that it is not addressed by issuing guidance notes for applicants in their own language. The cost to the UK in foreign exports is between a half and three quarters of a billion pounds per year. Thousands of jobs are being lost though this surly and alienating stance towards our customers.”
by Dinah Hatch
Dinah
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