Home Office visa service discriminating against Africans “Home Office data on visa refusals shows that African applicants are more than twice as likely to be refused a UK visa than applicants from any other part of the world. The UK has good relations with most African countries, but it needs to be recognised that no single issue does more damage to the image or influence of the UK in Africa than this visa question.” After 6 months of evidence gathering, a parliamentary report, published on 16th July by the All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) for Africa, for Malawi and for Diaspora, Development and Migration found the UK visit visa system was not currently fit for purpose, being inaccessible to many Africans, under resourced, unaccountable and widely perceived as biased or even discriminating against Africans. The report identifies several specific challenges faced by Africans in applying for visas to the UK, including; A centralised application system that requires many applicants to travel hundreds, even thousands of miles simply to apply for a visa. Weak quality control and lack of oversight leading to erroneous, careless and sometimes offensive decisions. Perceived lack of procedural fairness: in many cases additional documentation and evidence is requested over and above that specified in the guidelines, but even then some decisions seem to be arbitrary and illogical. Financial discrimination in decision-making: many applications are rejected because the applicant has little money, even though all costs have been guaranteed by a sponsoring third party. No right of appeal, requiring expensive re-application to correct a mistaken decision.

http://www.royalafricansociety.org/analysis/home-office-visa-service-discriminating-against-africans.