UK slaps passport 'ban' on SA 19/04/2006 23:02 - (SA)

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Mandy Rossouw, Beeld

London - The British government has not accepted any South Africans who want to enter Britain with temporary passports since Wednesday, said British immigration minister Tom McNulty on Wednesday.

McNulty said South Africans travelling to Britain on temporary passports would not be allowed into the country because of "concern about the efficiency of the process of issuing South African passports".

A period of grace will be given to South Africans who already have made travel arrangements.
They can travel to Britain until June 1 2006 and their temporary passports still will be accepted.
McNulty said that people with South African passports that had not been obtained through the right channels, were arrested regularly at airports.

The passports were found on people of different nationalities.

"It's our opinion that temporary passports do not sufficiently determine the identity and nationality or they do not comply with internationally accepted practice.

Visa regulations
"As a result, intelligence sources argue that these passports are easy targets for people of other nationalities who want to enter Britain illegally."

McNulty emphasised that South Africans were still welcome in Britain, but not without a full, valid passport.

According to the prevailing immigration rules, South Africans may come to Britain without a visa and stay for six months. But, they can't do any work while they are in Britain.
If South Africans want to work in Britain, they have to get a work permit or a working-holiday visa before leaving South Africa.

This is the first time a full moratorium has been placed on the acceptance of passports in this way, said a British home office spokesperson.

He said temporary South African passports were misused mainly by people from other African countries, specifically South Africa's neighbouring states such as Zimbabwe.

"It has come to light that specifically South African passports are regularly misused.
"A while ago, the department identified a problem with these passports and, when we began looking more closely at them, we realised the problem was much greater than we'd thought."
Other people with temporary passports also can enter Britain until June 1 if they have obtained a valid visa from the British consulate before beginning their trip.

SA home affairs 'not aware' of ban

South African home affairs spokesperson Cleo Mosana said the department was not aware of the new arrangement. "The British government has the right to decide what control measures are necessary in the interests of their safety. "But the department of home affairs sees, as a priority, the integrity of the documents it issues and works unceasingly to achieve this goal," she said.