Abuja - The Nigerian Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Dimeji Bankole, has urged the British High Commission to relax its strict entry visa conditions to ease the hardship of Nigerians traveling to the United Kingdom for legitimate businesses.

A statement by the Special Adviser (media) to the speaker, Mr. Kayode Akinmade, said that Bankole made the appeal on Monday when he received the new British High Commissioner to Nigeria , Mr. Bob Dewar in his office.

Speaker Bankole expressed concern over the hardship Nigerians were made to go through before obtaining UK visa and asked the Commission to soften its visa policy on Nigerians.

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Abuja - THE British High Commission has announced the details of Britain’s new Australian-style points-based immigration system (PBS) for highly skilled foreign workers applying to enter the United Kingdom (UK).

According to the commission in Abuja, the regulations will come into force on February 29, when highly skilled foreign nationals currently working in Britain and who want to extend their stay would need to apply under the new system.

In April, the new system would begin to be rolled out overseas when anyone from India who wants to work in the UK as a highly skilled migrant would need to apply under PBS. By the summer, the new highly skilled system would operate worldwide.

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Punch - A new biometric (Fingerprint) system introduced by the United Kingdom for all visa applicants has reportedly exposed a Nigerian man trying to enter the country with a false identity.

A report on news.zdnet.co.uk said the unidentified man had previously served an eight-month sentence at an undisclosed UK prison. It said the new fingerprint database system, which will cover 133 countries, contained the records of over one million previous visa applicants.

It said the system had already uncovered 10,000 visa applicants connected to earlier immigration cases and asylum requests as well as 500 cases of identity swapping.

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Thisday (Lagos) - Bearing any unforeseen circumstances, Arik Air and Virgin Nigeria, will join North American Airlines and Delta Airlines, to fly direct between Nigeria and the USA, fom 2008.

The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Mr. Harold Demurin, told journalists in Lagos that the US Federal Aviation Administr-ation (FAA) has granted waiver to the domestic airlines.

This is very welcome development for Nigerians and other foreign travellers who have had to endure several hours of flight time when travelling to and from the USA/Nigeria. Before the introduction of direct flights between the two countries in the middle of this year, travellers have had to travel through European countries, with some going through hardship securing schengen or British transit visas, in order to travel between the two countries.

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London - Individuals inviting anyone to the United Kingdom, may have to pay a cash bond as a guarantee that such people will go back to their home countries after the expiration of their tourist visa, if a new British immigration plan is passed by House of Commons.

Under the proposal, families would have to pay a cash bond to ensure that visitors left the country, while the standard six-month tourist visa would be cut in half, to three months.

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