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Visa rules bar Ethiopian guide from show he made possible
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent21.09.09
Renowned photo-journalist Nick Danziger today spoke of his outrage after the student behind his exhibition missed the opening night because of immigration red tape.
Hiluf Berhe, 31, a PhD archaeology student from Ethiopia, acted as a guide and translator for Danziger on a British Council expedition to the country to photograph the Christian community.
The student was granted access to France to join a university archaeological dig in Béziers, but travelling on to the exhibition at the Royal Geographical Society in Kensington proved trickier. The UK Border Agency office in Bordeaux put through his application for a visa to Britain on 29 August but his passport and visa were only returned on 12 September - the day after the London reception where guests included Sky political editor Adam Boulton and Tony Hall, the chief executive of the Royal Opera House.
Danziger said: "I was outraged...it was so bureaucratic. It's very clear the UK Border Agency wants to deter people. It's heart-breaking. The exhibition is as much his work as it is the British Council and mine."
Visa rules were toughened up a year ago and are based on qualifications and funding. They have been criticised for assuming people from poorer countries will outstay their visa.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We ask visa applicants to give as much notice as possible. We aim to process applications within 10 working days."
Reader views (7)
Rules are rules.
- Frank, Home Counties, England.
Take it easy: it is not just the UK that processes visas for people who come from developing countries on the premises that they are most likely to outstay their visas. All so called developed countries operate similarly.
Try, the French Embassy and you will see how efficient the UK Border agency has been on this occasion. A few years back, just because I was an Ethiopian national, it took me three months to get a Visa to visit my French girlfriend and her family in France, despite having full UK residence permit. I had to endure the humiliation of proving that I either had credit cards or at least £500 on my debit card. Do not get me wrong here...I'm not singling out France; from what I heard the EU block operates pretty much like that. In my experience, immigration officer of the many western countries I have visited, jump as soon as they see any passport that originated from Africa.
- Sam, London, UK
Such is life . . . . TOUGH !
- Jock, Kent
Hold on now:
"put through his application for a visa to Britain on 29 August but his passport and visa were only returned on 12 September"
So you submitted on the Saturday of a bank holiday weekend and then expect it to be turned around in 9 days? Whilst in another country? For a foreign National? So 9 days for it to come from Bordeaux to the UK, background checks to be performed, be signed off and then sent back again? And you're complaining? For a branch of the UK civil service to have turned something around that quickly is nothing short of a miracle and you should be grateful.
- Bob, Cheam
How ridiculous it is that we have allowed the hysteria about migration to get to the point where the movement of people is driven by this arbitrary and bureaucratic nonsense.
- Nolan, Londonist
How stupendously arrogant of Danziger to presume that he should be allowed to decide who can and can't come in to the UK.
- Colin Arkwright, Camden, UK
This is ridiculous. To some extent the assumption that people from poorer countries will outstay their visa has truth in it. However, for highly skilled people this is absolutely nonsense! No body in that category wants to stay abroad cleaning streets. Only those people with less educational credential wants to stay abroad no matter what situation they are going to be in.
Milli
- Milli, Netherlands
