Sadly, the same cannot be said for our Malawian friends invited to the UK, who are forced to navigate a hostile and humiliating UK visa application process.
Patrick Grady, MP for Glasgow North Chair of the Malawi All-Party Parliamentary Group
Last month, as convenor of Westminster’s All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Malawi, I joined colleagues from the Africa and Migration APPGs to launch a major new report looking at the way people from Africa are treated as they apply for UK visas.
The report launch in Westminster was packed with a diverse and impassioned audience. Almost everyone spoke of what appeared to be an entirely dysfunctional UK visa system.
They spoke of the frustration they and their partners in Africa felt as they navigated the system; they highlighted the unreasonable evidential requirements and the frequency of simple and avoidable errors; and they highlighted the lasting negative impact this is having.
We heard from a city councillor originally from Nigeria who has given 40 years of service to the UK, working as a midwife and ultimately becoming mayor of Enfield. Despite years of trying, she has not been able to invite her sister to the UK for a short, fully-funded visit.
We heard from governmental representatives of Ghana, Uganda, Mauritania, Tunisia and Malawi, who spoke about officials entering the UK on diplomatic business being made to feel unwelcome, and the impact this was having on the UK’s international standing. Our own Scotland Malawi Partnership highlighted a case where a visa rejection letter for a major Malawian artist said: “We reject your visa because [insert reason here].”
