Colombia to Require Visas for British Travelers Following UK Policy Update

November 27, 2024 TruthUSA

According to Colombian President Gustavo Petro, ‘By the principle of reciprocity, the Colombian government will ask for visas from British citizens.’

On Nov. 26, Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that his country will implement visa requirements for British travelers in retaliation to the UK’s decision to revoke visa-free entry for Colombian nationals.

The British government cited a “significant increase in irregular migration cases” as the reason for reinstating the visa requirement for Colombian citizens on Tuesday.

Additionally, Colombian visitors must now obtain a direct transit visa to pass through the UK to another country as part of the UK’s border measures.

In response to this move by the British government, President Petro stated that Colombia would impose similar measures on British travelers, without specifying a timeline for the enforcement of the visa rules.

In a post on social media platform X on Nov. 26, Petro wrote, “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 from British citizens who want to come to Colombia.”

The UK had lifted the visa requirement for Colombian visitors in November 2022, three months after Petro assumed office.

British Ambassador to Colombia George Hodgson explained on Tuesday that the decision to reinstate the visa requirement for Colombian nationals was challenging but necessary to safeguard the border.

Hodgson, in a video address on X, stated that the UK had seen an increase in “unjustified asylum requests” since lifting visa requirements for Colombian nationals two years ago.

Although the visa rules took effect on Tuesday, Colombian travelers who had confirmed bookings made before 3 p.m. GMT on Nov. 26 for arrival to the UK by 3 p.m. GMT on Dec. 24 will benefit from a four-week visa-free transition period, as specified by British officials.

British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship Seema Malhotra attributed the imposition of the visa requirement to a “sustained increase” in asylum claims and “high rates of refusals” at the border.

In a written statement to the UK Parliament on Tuesday, Malhotra noted that this decision does not impact the strong and friendly relationship between the UK and Colombia despite the shift in border measures.

Malhotra emphasized that any changes to visa status are made thoughtfully, with regular reviews of the border and immigration system to ensure alignment with UK national interests.

The British government also released an explanatory memorandum detailing the reasons for the changes and revealing the number of asylum claims from Colombia in recent years.

In 2020, there were 11 asylum claims from Colombians in the UK, reducing to six claims in 2021. However, the number surged from 13 asylum claims in the first three quarters of 2022 to 105 in the last quarter of the same year.

During 2023, a total of 854 asylum claims were made by Colombians, with 468 asylum claims received in the first two quarters of 2024.

The explanatory memorandum highlighted that there have been more asylum claims per quarter in 2023 and 2024 compared to the total claims from the entire decade prior to lifting the visa requirement.

Over the past three years, thousands of Colombians have left their homeland for Europe and the United States due to economic challenges and escalating violence in certain regions. In 2022, U.S. Border Patrol arrested more than 165,000 Colombian nationals attempting to cross the U.S.–Mexico border, a number which slightly decreased to 155,000 in the following year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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