The £3,000 Nigerian cash bonds for UK visas - What is it

UK’s office confirmed on Monday it will demand a £3,000 ($4,630) refundable bond for visas from visitors of six former colonies in Africa and Asia -Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka.

Immigration, legal and illegal, is a sensitive political issue in Britain, especially with the unemployment and austerity measures brought on by the economic crisis. It was a big issue in his election campaign and he has pledged to cut net immigration from 252,000 a year in 2010 to below 100,000 a year by 2015.

The statement sent by email did not say when the pilot program would start but many newspapers claim the trial period for the scheme will start in November. What it means that starting from the tentative date visitors or tourists from the six countries, under high risks, will be asked to pay a £3,000 cash bond in return for visitor visas. The visitor visas will allow them to stay in the UK for up to six months. 

''How can someone who wants to visit the U.K. for a couple of days for business meetings or something else afford to set aside 3,000 pounds.He will simply prefer to go and do business elsewhere in Europe instead of getting into this problem of giving a bond and getting reimbursed.” Pakistani computer businessman Syed Shahid Ali said
The Home Office statement said the visa bond “is the next step in making sure our immigration system is more selective, bringing down net migration from the hundreds of thousands to the tens of thousands while still welcoming the brightest and the best to Britain.”