The UK is to impose visa restrictions on people arriving from the Democratic Republic of Congo after its government failed to agree measures to allow illegal immigrants and foreign criminals to return home.
Ministers said the Democratic Republic of Congo has yet to make changes to tougher asylum rules announced by Britain in November.
The fast-track visa process will no longer apply to people arriving from the country, while the Home Office said VIPs and politicians will no longer receive preferential treatment when coming to the UK.
Meanwhile, Britain’s Home Office said Angola and Namibia had agreed to step up efforts to repatriate their citizens as they were threatened with sanctions along with the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will not hesitate to ban visas to other countries that refuse to accept their citizens back home, a government source said.
The UK Home Office said Angola and Namibia had agreed to improve their processes, marking “the first successful delivery of asylum reform last month”.
The government has warned that it will stop issuing visas to people from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo if the governments of these countries do not quickly improve repatriation cooperation.
Interior Ministry sources said the agreements could lead to thousands of deportations and deportations.
Under the government’s reforms to the UK’s asylum system, refugee status will become temporary, secure housing support for asylum seekers will end and new capped “safe legal routes” into the UK will be created.
Announcing the changes last month, Mahmoud warned that countries that did not cooperate with the deportation policy would be subject to visa penalties, including imposing an “emergency brake” on visas for countries with high numbers of asylum seekers until they take back citizens in the UK illegally.
The UK Home Office has said that discouraging returns from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola and Namibia – where documents were not processed or people were asked to sign their own documents – gave them an effective veto.
It warned that the three countries faced penalties for their “unacceptably poor and obstructive return procedures”.
The report said some contacts had been made with the Democratic Republic of Congo but “unless cooperation improves quickly” further steps could be taken, including a possible blanket ban on travel to the UK.
Interior Minister Mahmoud said: “We want countries to follow the rules. If one of their citizens has no right to be here, they must bring them back.”
“I thank Angola and Namibia and welcome their cooperation. It is time for the Democratic Republic of the Congo to take the right action. Bring back your citizens or lose the privilege of entering our country.”
