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Cameroon: Why Visa Processing Was Transferred to Ghana
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The Post (Buea)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Kini Nsom
The Deputy British High Commissioner to Cameroon, Gillian Edwards, has disclosed that the transfer of its visa services from the British High Commission in Yaounde to Accra, Ghana, is to reduce cost of visa processing.
The services would be formally transferred to Accra on July 28. Talking to The Post recently, Gillian Edwards said the UK Border Agency (UKBA) and not the Commission took the decision.
According to the Diplomat, the move will reduce the cost of visa processing and enable them to render better services to their applicants. She allayed fears that the centralisation of visa processing in Accra will make things complicated for applicants.
To her, visa processing entails a lot of technology and centralisation would cut down cost and enable their customers to apply for visa with ease. She said as from July 28, people seeking for the UK visa must apply online and at the same time take appointment to submit their applications at the Visa Section of the High Commission in Yaounde.
After obtaining an online appointment, she explained, applicants in Cameroon will have to print out a copy of the completed visa form and take it to the British High Commission along with a passport size photograph, the relevant visa fee and any other supporting documents.
Harping on the advantages of the move, Gillian said when an applicant fills his or her form online, it is neater and has enough space that gives those concerned the latitude to put in detailed information about themselves.
She emphasised that all applicants will need to check the UK Visa website, the guidelines and take off time to fill the application form. To her, Accra was chosen as one of the processing centres for the UK visa because it is already dealing with other Francophone countries.
She remarked that price will remain the same. To her, they would have been compelled to increase the price for obtaining UK visas if they did not take the decision to centralise its processing.
The Deputy High Commissioner said there are visa delivery hubs in different regions of Africa and the world. She noted that Nairobi is the headquarters for the processing of UK passports in Africa while Washington is the centre for the UK passports in the United States. New York is the hub for visas.
She disclosed that two million people the world over apply for the UK visa yearly. To her, close to 5000 people in Cameroon apply for the UK visa a year. From April 2007 to March 2008, the British High Commission issued some 3500 visas and rejected some 1500 applications, the Diplomat revealed.
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She explained that applications are rejected when people concerned do not meet the UK immigration rules. Sometimes the people concerned put in fake documents, according to her.
The issuing of visa to ghana, from cameroon,same like other francophone african countries is unfair.The qeens goverment should know that cameroon is also an english speeking country.so stop discriminating on english speaking countries like cameroon or better still the english speaker of this country. before this date getting a visa to the uk has alway being deficult and takes alot of time,and now the the trasfar to ghana,this will take ages. the more the uk coverment make things difficult for Africans especially cameroonians the more they... [Read Full Text]
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