Britain to ease China visa restrictions

2013-10-14 13:43 Ecns.cn Web Editor: Yao Lan

Britain to ease China visa restrictions

Britain is to make it easier for Chinese nationals to obtain visas in an effort to boost business between the two countries, finance minister George Osborne has announced.

Osborne, who is in China leading a British trade delegation, promised the new measures would help the tens of thousands of Chinese visitors hoping to visit Britain.

"These changes will streamline and simplify the visa application process for Chinese visitors, while ensuring the system is strong and secure," he said on Monday in Beijing. "This is good news for British business and tourism."

Under the proposals, Chinese visitors to the European Union using selected travel agencies will no longer have to file a separate application to visit Britain.

Some 210,000 visas were issued to Chinese nationals in 2012, adding around £300 million ($480 million, 250 million euros) to the British economy.

Osborne is in China with London mayor Boris Johnson, who welcomed the plans.

"You need to get more visas for talented Chinese people to come to the UK," Johnson told the BBC.

"When Chinese tourists come to London classically they spend very considerable sums of money -- it's good news for the city.

"If it doesn't happen it's a missed opportunity and I don't want to see that business going to Paris," he added.

英國簡化中國簽證申請程序

昨日，英國財政大臣喬治·奧斯本在京召開發布會，并宣布了三項為中國訪客精簡申請赴英簽證手續的措施。

英國財政大臣宣布的三項具體措施包括推行新的試行方案，允許一些指定的中國旅行社在申請英國簽證時，只需提交歐洲申根簽證申請表，而無需另行提交兩份單獨的申請表格。這些指定的旅行社在安排游客前往英國和申根地區國家時，將無需重復提交不同的申請。

同時，自明年夏天開始，實施新的24小時“超級優先”簽證服務。

財政大臣還稱，正考慮將目前在北京和上海成功推行的“VIP上門簽證服務”范圍擴展到全中國。這一服務可以派簽證團隊親自前往申請人辦公地點，收集填寫完整的申請表，采集申請人生物識別信息，整個流程用時不到5分鐘。

據介紹，中國是英國旅游及商業的重點發展市場之一。2012年，英國共向中國公民發出了21萬張赴英簽證，而中國游客為英國經濟帶來了大約3億英鎊的收入。在倫敦和中國的4個城市之間，每周有39架次航班往來。中國學生是英國學校和大學中人數最多的外國學生群體。此外，英國也是中國投資在歐洲的首要目的地，僅在去年就吸引了近20億英鎊的中國投資，另有超過600家中國企業目前在英國開展商業活動。

喬治·奧斯本表示，針對赴英簽證的改變將簡化中國訪客赴英簽證流程，同時也有能力確保邊境安全。

據統計，2012年，96%的中國申請者成功獲得英國簽證。2013年上半年，非定居類簽證的平均處理時間不足7天。