The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Best way to the U.K. is the legal way

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Mar 17, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Best way to the U.K. is the legal way

Special Correspondent

The visa process takes less than three days

CHENNAI: "Last month, we saw 300 different types of forged documents here [from visa seekers]," says Robin Mills, Risk Assessment Unit, Visa Section, British Deputy High Commission.

Chennai, which processes visa requests from south India, is the sixth largest U.K. visa issuing post in the world. Last year, this post handled 92,000 visa applications.

"Forgery here is totally different from what we see in the U.K. Most forgeries there are linked to passports and visas. Here it is linked to accompanying documents. In particular bank statements and company letters [of recommendation]," says Mr. Mills, who spots fraudulent applications, notifies the visa section and identifies the source of the documents. "It's not surprising to see some of the bigger companies in this area have their letterheads targeted."

Companies such as Wipro and Infosys, which have "a good name" with the British High Commission, and U.K. universities are among the targets.

The advent of the Internet has made forging easier. "Unfortunately," says Mr. Mills. "Our job is to pinpoint where this type of abuse is coming from."

No need for forgeries

Mike Connor, British Deputy High Commissioner in southern India, stresses the point that the visa section and the private agency hired for facilitation work are in place to help visa seekers. The process is straightforward and takes less than three days to process. "The best way is the legal way," he says. The Deputy High Commission has come across cases where there was no need for the forged documents. Agents possibly misled the visa seekers.

"Visa applications from south India rose almost by 15 per cent in 2005 and these were across all categories," Mr. Connor says. His office tries to make the visit to the U.K. as easy as possible.

Applicants from south India should contact the Visa Facilitation Service offices in Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad or Kochi and lodge their application. The application reaches the Visa Office at the British Deputy High Commission the next day. By day three, a majority will know if they have been granted a visa or not. About 10 per cent of the applicants are called in for an interview.

George Farrell, Entry Clearance Officer, Visa Section, says a new points-based system is being put in place to control migration more effectively. Five tiers will replace the existing 80 work and study routes (Details: ukinindia.com).

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