The UK Home
Office has confirmed that plans for a three thousand pounds "security
bond" for some "high risk" overseas visitors to the UK are to be
discarded.
The visa bond scheme was announced
by Home Secretary Theresa May in June and was set to be introduced this month.
A Home Office spokesman confirmed a
Sunday Times report that the policy would be scrapped. The decision is thought to have been taken
after deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg threatened to block it.
The aim of the scheme was to reduce
the number of people from some "high risk" countries - including
India, Pakistan, and Nigeria - staying in the UK once their short-term visas
had expired.
Visitors would have paid a £3,000
cash bond before arrival in the UK - forfeited if they failed make the return
trip. The idea was first suggested by Mr
Clegg in March.
But Business Secretary Vince Cable later claimed
the deputy prime minister's plan, which had suggested a bond of £1,000, had
been deliberately misinterpreted by some of their Conservative cabinet
colleagues.Nigeria is one of the countries that opposed the proposed VISA BOND.
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