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Britain makes it expensive for Pakistanis to visit

LONDON, January 30 (Internews): Pakistani visitors to Britain will be

forced to pay a bond of 10,000 pounds if they are suspected of being

illegal immigrants news reports said here Sunday.

The move signals the governmentís determination to crack down on people

using a visitor's visa to get into the country to stay permanently. The

money will only be returned if the visitor leaves the country on or

before the due date.

But one Labour MP has criticised the scheme as discriminatory and

ìpossibly illegal.î

Under a pilot scheme to be launched later this year, if immigration

officials suspect a visitor plans to settle here illegally, relatives

will have to deposit 10,000 pounds with the Home Office in London.

The pilot project is expected to operate through visa offices in

Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

The government is struggling to tackle a rising tide of illegal

immigrants and asylum seekers, and has come under pressure from the

Tories to do more to discourage illegal immigrants.

But the changes will also involve re-instating the right of appeal for

those who are denied visitor visas.

Critics of the scheme say it discriminates against the poor as their

families would not be able to afford to put up the bond. They also say

immigrants from Australia are not being targeted.

Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn said the scheme was discriminatory and ìpossibly

illegalî under race relations laws.

The government denies discrimination, saying the price of travel itself

determines whether someone can visit this country. The Home Office says

if the scheme is successful, it will be expanded to cover other

countries

A Home Office minister recently said that the flow of asylum seekers

into British UK must be stopped.

Lord Bassam said the government was working with other European

countries to try to stem the number of illegal immigrants - believed to

be eastern Europeans - after outbreaks of violence in Dover.

Lord Bassam said he believed Dover's problems were caused by asylum

seekers being ìdumpedî there without adequate support.

Describing the current situation as ìintolerable,î he said: ìWe need to

prevent the large numbers of asylum seekers coming here that have in the

past.î

Kent County Council says most of the asylum seekers in Dover are Afghans

and Kurds.

The Immigration and Asylum Bill contains measures aimed at accelerating

the dispersal of immigrants and processing their claims for sanctuary.

It includes measures to split refugees into smaller groups and spread

them across the country. Cash handouts will be replaced with vouchers

for food and essential items. ---Internews