MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia says more time needed for visas with UK

The time before Christmas is not the best to implement the visa requirement, Ambassador Barreras argued

Colombia's Ambassador to the United Kingdom Roy Barreras asked Home Secretary Yvette Cooper for a meeting to postpone the application of the visa requirement saying it was highly untimely to set it into force ahead of the Christmas Holidays.

“I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to have a personal conversation with you, as soon as possible, to explore viable ways to find solutions for Colombian compatriots who are negatively affected by this measure,” Barreras wrote while mentioning he would welcome it if the UK would agree to make the requirement effective as of Jan. 15. “Perhaps an extension of the transition period until January 15 could be considered,” he suggested in the letter he also disclosed on social media.

London reinstated the visa requirement for Colombians after at least 90 cases of people who sought asylum, most of them with fraudulent documents. The visa measure began to take effect on Nov. 26 and a window period was established until Dec. 24 for those who had purchased airline tickets before the announcement.

Barreras admitted that he was aware of the irregularities in the asylum applications and proposed to the British government an eight-point and six-month strategy to curb the situation, but “the British government gave in to the great internal anti-immigration political pressure and imposed the measure at the worst possible time: Christmas vacations,” the Ambassador stressed. The UK had lifted the need for visas for Colombians on Nov. 9, 2022.

In response, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced this week that his country would require tourist visas for UK nationals effective immediately in reciprocity for London's decision. “If the United Kingdom has reestablished the need for visas for the Colombian people, I have to say that, by the principle of reciprocity, the Colombian government will ask for visas to British citizens who want to come to Colombia,” Petro wrote on X.

“In any country, including the UK, migration and border security has to be a priority. It has not been an easy decision for our ministers, however, this decision was taken because of the significant increase in the number of irregular migration cases. In particular, in the two years since the lifting of the visa requirement we have seen a marked increase in the number of unjustified asylum applications,” British Ambassador to Bogota George Hodgson explained.