28 August 2004	Saturday	11 Rajab 1425

GUJRAT, Aug 27: Residents of Gujrat and adjoining districts have expressed concern over slow process of issuance of visit visas by the UK mission in Islamabad.

A number of residents, including businessmen and traders of Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Mandi Bahauddin and Mirpur, told this correspondent on Thursday that they had applied for the visit visa to the UK through an authorized firm by submitting all the relevant documents and bank statements. But after the passage of over a month, the firm had informed them that the UK embassy had still not communicated to them about the interview dates, they said.

A group of businessmen, including brick kiln owners, said on the condition of anonymity that they recently got Shanjen visas and later applied for UK visit visas through an authorized firm. But, they said, they had not been called for interview even after 40 days.

They feared that if the UK embassy did not respond to their applications in a week, the travelling date of their Shanjen visas would expire. People, who had applied for work permit, study and immigration visas, also complained about the slow process of issuance of relevant visas by the UK mission is Islamabad. Sources claimed that the UK embassy had recently enhanced visa fee and amended the policy.

They said earlier the visa officer charged the fee from those who he decided to issue the visa. But now the officials had started charging non-refundable fee in advance. They added that more than 500,000 people from across the country had applied for visas during the last month.

Sources claimed that a possible threat from Al-Qaeda to the UK mission was the main reason for the slow process of issuance of visas. Meanwhile, the applicants have urged the UK mission to speed up the process. They have also demanded of the foreign office to take up the issue with the offices concerned in London through the Pakistan's high commissioner.