:nook:
UK introduces new visa controls
People from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Angola, Cameroon and Lebanon
will need visas to travel through the UK under new British immigration
controls.
The new rules come into force from midnight on Wednesday as the Home
Office tries to stop people exploiting the current rules to enter the UK
illegally or make baseless asylum claims.
Until now, nationals from the six countries have been able to travel
without a visa if they are only passing through Britain on the way to a
third country.
The new rules mean they will have to apply for the £27 visa before
travelling.
A Home Office spokeswoman told BBC News Online: “In theory, you can claim
asylum in the first country you reach after you have left your country of
origin.”
That meant asylum could be claimed by somebody stopping at Heathrow just
for an hour-and-a-half to switch planes or refuel on their way to another
country - something the government now wants to prevent.
Grace period
The Home Office says it will try to minimise the inconvenience to genuine
onward passengers.
People who have already booked their travel tickets will not need the
visas if they travel before midnight on 20 October.
To show all visa regimes are kept under constant review, the government
also says it is lifting transit visa regimes for Croatia, Libya and
Slovakia.
Home Office Minister, Beverley Hughes, said: "We are responding to
intelligence that some nationals of these countries are using transit
visas to flout our immigration controls and either enter the UK illegally
or make unfounded asylum applications.
"Those who do so have no right to be in the UK and we are committed to
stopping them from travelling here in the first place.
“This year, we have tightened up visa regimes for 18 countries, and this
is helping to reduce the number of asylum claims and illegal entrants.”
not all pakistanis hold american / canadian visas 
