UK to try and simplify visas for Chinese tourists

[ChinaToday]

Home Office ministers are to start talks with Chinese tour operators in the hope of setting up an easier visa application system for groups of high-spending Asian shoppers who are discouraged by the UK’s border bureaucracy.

The department has been under pressure from luxury retailers to streamline the process for Chinese tourists, who can enter most of continental Europe with just one Schengen visa and are therefore less likely to apply for a separate UK entry. As a result, France receives at least 25 per cent more Chinese tourists each year than Britain does.

Mark Harper, immigration minister, said on Tuesday that he hoped to begin discussions soon. “It’s just thinking about, practically, what can we do with the tour operators to enable them to make that process for getting both [UK and Schengen] visas as straightforward as possible,” he told the Financial Times. “We may not be able to get it to be perfect, but we can get it to be a lot better than it is now, which then makes us a lot more competitive.”

However, Mr Harper suggested that a previous idea of negotiating “parallel” processes – so that data for Schengen and UK visas could be submitted in one joint application – was looking less likely. This was because “you start running into issues about government IT projects and complex issues about data protection”, he said.

Mr Harper also indicated such a joint application would be difficult to achieve diplomatically because it was “not obvious” that it would be in the interests of Britain’s European partners.

Mark Henderson, of UK China Visa Alliance, the retailers’ lobby, said the proposals for tour operators would be very welcome. “But we also need to address those high net-worth visitors who don’t use tours or the premium visa service,” he said.

In one concession to the complex visa bureaucracy, the Home Office is to start publishing visa guidance in Mandarin from next month – although the form itself will still be in English because the cost of translating answers would be too high.

UK to try and simplify visas for Chinese tourists - FT.com

 

[isro2222]

Let me make it clear that bl0ody British pm david hugging china not because he envy chinese.... Just watch britsh movies and u all would know how they treat chinese, nigerians, pakistanis and indians.... That bl0ody british hugging china for two reasons. 1st he wants money. 2nd he still not able to digest india kicked Eurofighter Typhoon. Two days ago indian cricket team beaten bl0ody england team. Indian cricketers danced all around the ground and indian crowed at england laughed at english team.... Bl0ody david couldnt digest it. He declared indians should pay 2.8 lac rupees when they enter england.... Before he made fun of indian olympic team by saying people should avoid bollywood dance.... Before it he sended a retarded indian lady wearing red in olympic ceremony.... Than he came to watch mary kom boxing match and made fun of her by laughing at her loss. He recently came in india with begging bowl but got nothing.... So now new trick by the looters. They brought china in. They think bl0ody indian congress would talk nice (good atleast they aint talking nothing).... Let me make it clear that britishers are born looters. They looted world. Now they cant do it as other countries got weapons. So brits loot them self now. Recent riot is the proof. Btw BBC is a per.vert heaven. They talk about indian poverty but ignores the gay tradition increasing in england. Majority of them are gays lesbos bisexu.als.... The reptilian queen of england is money eater. All she knows how to get money. Be it by recent marriage in her family and now they looking to earn money by having kid in family.... She killed dianna and also the indian nurse. The reason indian nurse was killed was she broke out news of the unborn child. Bl0ody queen lost temper as the kid is money ATM machine.... Britis has defected genes. They just see money. Everyone are into money but bl0ody brits want to swim in it....