The government is planning to force visitors from India, Pakistan, Nigeria and other countries whose nationals are deemed to pose a “high risk” of immigration abuse to provide a cash bond before they can enter the country, a report said Sunday.
The Sunday Times said that from November, a pilot scheme would target visitors from those three countries plus Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ghana.
Visitors aged 18 and over would be forced to hand over £3,000 from November for a six-month visit visa.
They will forfeit the money if they overstay after their visa has expired.
Initially the scheme will target hundreds of visitors, but the plan is to extend it to several thousand, according to the broadsheet’s front-page report.
The paper said the move by Home Secretary Theresa May is designed to show that the Tories are serious about cutting immigration and abuses of the system.
The populist United Kingdom Independence Party has been encroaching on the Conservatives’ traditional core vote in recent months.
Prime Minister David Cameron wants annual net migration down below 100,000 by 2015.
A Home Office official said the six countries highlighted were those with “the most significant risk of abuse”.
Last year 296,000 people granted six-month visas were from India, 101,000 from Nigeria, 53,000 from Pakistan and 14,000 each were from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
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