dual citizenship

Pemba Paradise

Zanzibar Diaspora

Mwanakwerekwe shops ad

ZanzibarNiKwetuStoreBanner

ZNK Patreon

Scrolling news

************ KARIBUNI..................Contact us for any breaking news or for any information at: znzkwetu@gmail.com. You can also fax us at: 1.801.289.7713......................KARIBUNI

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Talks at high level on British visa issuance

BY LUSEKELO PHILEMON

11th April 2013


Lazaro Nyalandu, Natural Resources and Tourism deputy minister
High level talks are going on between the Tanzanian government and that of Britain on possibilities of issuing visas in Dar es Salaam instead of Nairobi.
The talks are also about possibilities of refunding travelers to the UK who fail to obtain visas from the British High Commission.

Natural Resources and Tourism deputy minister Lazaro Nyalandu made the revelation in the National Assembly yesterday when he was answering a question on behalf of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation minister Bernard Membe.

The deputy minister was responding to a question posed by Khatib Said Haji (Konde-Pemba North, CUF), who had wanted government’s explanations on the difficulties Tanzanians encounter when they apply for UK and US visas in their respective embassies based in Tanzania.
The legislator had also wanted to know the government’s stand on the possibilities of convincing the UK government to cut down visa application fees.
According to Haji, the current British visa fee is high, hence the need for the commission to reduce it.
In his response, Nyalandu said Tanzania through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation has initiated talks with the UK government on the need to start issuing visas in Dar es Salaam instead of Nairobi as it is currently the case.

“The UK government has pledged to work on the Tanzanian proposal,” the minister told the House.
He admitted that many Tanzanians experience a number of difficulties when applying for visas in both US and UK embassies.

“We are aware that many travellers experience difficulties in the process of obtaining visas in those embassies. The ministry is still appealing to the two governments to lessen some of the conditions to Tanzanians applying for visa,” he said.

He however stated that the two countries imposed stringent conditions on issuing visas after the increased wave of terrorism across the globe.

“So, these stringent conditions do not only apply to Tanzanians but also to other nationals. Nevertheless, I am sure very soon things will revert to normal since terrorism acts have go down,” he explained.

In November 2008, British High Commission Press Officer John Bradshaw announced to journalists in Dar es Salaam that all Tanzanians wishing to travel to Britain would from the end of that year process their visas in Nairobi.

Bradshaw said the process to obtain a UK visa could take six weeks, instead of five days that majority of travellers to UK are subjected to.

According to the new directives, he had said, an applicant of a UK travel permit would have to submit an application on line, and then wait for an appointment that would require them to bring appropriate documents to the High Commissioner’s office in Dar es Salaam for verification.

Bradshaw had said the final procedure would take place in Nairobi, where the whole process would take three weeks before the visa was ready.

He had said the changes were part of the UK’s government plans to restructure its visa operation, known as ‘Hub and Spoke Visa Processing’.
Over 8,000 Tanzanians apply for UK visas every year. 


SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN

No comments :

Post a Comment