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.

英国简化中国签证申请程序

昨日，英国财政大臣乔治·奥斯本在京召开发布会，并宣布了三项为中国访客精简申请赴英签证手续的措施。

英国财政大臣宣布的三项具体措施包括推行新的试行方案，允许一些指定的中国旅行社在申请英国签证时，只需提交欧洲申根签证申请表，而无需另行提交两份单独的申请表格。这些指定的旅行社在安排游客前往英国和申根地区国家时，将无需重复提交不同的申请。

同时，自明年夏天开始，实施新的24小时“超级优先”签证服务。

财政大臣还称，正考虑将目前在北京和上海成功推行的“VIP上门签证服务”范围扩展到全中国。这一服务可以派签证团队亲自前往申请人办公地点，收集填写完整的申请表，采集申请人生物识别信息，整个流程用时不到5分钟。

据介绍，中国是英国旅游及商业的重点发展市场之一。2012年，英国共向中国公民发出了21万张赴英签证，而中国游客为英国经济带来了大约3亿英镑的收入。在伦敦和中国的4个城市之间，每周有39架次航班往来。中国学生是英国学校和大学中人数最多的外国学生群体。此外，英国也是中国投资在欧洲的首要目的地，仅在去年就吸引了近20亿英镑的中国投资，另有超过600家中国企业目前在英国开展商业活动。

乔治·奥斯本表示，针对赴英签证的改变将简化中国访客赴英签证流程，同时也有能力确保边境安全。

据统计，2012年，96%的中国申请者成功获得英国签证。2013年上半年，非定居类签证的平均处理时间不足7天。