Select Committee on Foreign Affairs Memoranda


Memorandum submitted by Foreign and Commonwealth Office (China)

X  VISA MATTERS

  128.  There is a serious problem of illegal immigration from China to the UK. Nationals of the PRC are subject to a visa regime. Since 1995 all PRC nationals transiting the UK have also been required to hold Direct Airside Transit Visas (DATVs).

  129.  We have had a series of discussions with the Chinese authorities in order to try and reduce the flow of illegal immigrants. As part of this process the Home Office has recently appointed an Immigration Liaison Officer to the British Embassy in Beijing. We also try to encourage the Chinese authorities to co-operate in returning failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, who are Chinese nationals but who arrived in the UK without travel documents, by providing them with new documentation.


  130.  The number of visa applications dealt with by the Beijing Embassy has grown substantially in recent years. Although the overall increase in visa applications between 1998 and 1999 has been only 14 per cent, the number of visa applications from private passport holders, which are the most difficult to assess, has increased by over 40 per cent. This increase is partly because more Chinese now have access to private passports but also because the number of Chinese wishing to study in the UK is rising. The increase in the number of student visa applications can be attributed, in part, to the Prime Minister's initiative to encourage foreign students to study in the UK which he announced in Beijing in October 1998.

  131.  In 1999 the British Embassy in Beijing received 36,116 visa applications. The refusal rate across the board was 9 per cent. The refusal rate for students was 17 per cent, a drop from 24 per cent in 1998. The very rapid increase in visa applications over the last five years, coupled with serious space problems in our existing buildings, and the consequent inability to draft in extra staff as fast as we would like, have led to some problems in the visa-issuing service, and to some long queues. There are now 10 UK based staff and 26 locally engaged staff, both Chinese and expatriate, in the Visa Section. In order to cope with the workload, five new UK based and 13 new locally engaged staff have been authorised. The section is moving this month to specially-designed new premises. The combination of additional physical and human resources should enable the Embassy to offer a high quality visa service.

  132.  The Consulates General at Shanghai and Guangzhou also offer visa services. The Shanghai service was set up in January 1998. The number of applications received in 1999 was 8,440, an increase of over 50 per cent from 1998. Two UK based staff and seven locally engaged staff are working in the Shanghai Visa Section. Two additional UK based staff have been allocated to meet the increased demand.

  133.  The Guangzhou service was opened in September 1999. The number of applications received has risen steadily since the Visa Section opened. The number of applications received in the last quarter of 1999 was 2,983. There are two UK based staff and eight locally engaged staff working in the Guangzhou Visa Section. An additional two UK based staff have been allocated to meet the anticipated increase in demand.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

17 May 2000


 
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