I’ll block £3,000 Visa Bond On Nigeria, Others — UK Dep Prime Minister

More prominent British leaders have continued to speak out against the British government’s plan to impose a refundable £3000 visa bond on Nigerians.

The new UK plan is to make foreign visitors from Nigeria, Ghana, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka routinely pay a security deposit to come to the U.K., an idea that has spurred outrage in countries such as India and Nigeria.

Officials and businesspeople in the affected countries have condemned the proposal, and the British government has not said how many visa applicants will have to pay the bond.

The UK government plans to begin a pilot project in November involving “high-risk” countries. Some visitors will have to pay a £3,000 ($4,800) deposit, which will be refunded upon departure but forfeited if travellers overstay their visas.

But yesterday, Britain’s deputy prime minister ,said he will try to block any such move to pay the visa bond.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said his Liberal Democrat Party and its Conservative coalition partners had “differences of emphasis” on the plan, and details were still being discussed in government.

“I am absolutely not interested in a bond which becomes an indiscriminate way of clobbering people who want to come to this country,” Clegg told the BBC.