UK no longer welcomes SA youth

Thousands of young South Africans take a gap year after school or travel to the United Kingdom to make money and explore the rest of Europe.

But soon this could all change as the Brits tighten their immigration policy.

In one of the biggest drives to protect its borders in the past 45 years, the UK is changing its immigration system. It plans to replace its two-year working-holiday visa with a system similar to Australia's youth mobility scheme this year.

According to a recent statement by the UK home office, South Africans will no longer be eligible for the two-year working-holiday visa.

Transitional arrangements will be made for South Africans at present in the country under that scheme.

According to the website, www.globalvisas.com, an authority on immigration and visa services, the changes in the UK are the biggest shake-up of immigration policy in the past 45 years.

The UK working-holiday visa is extremely popular with South Africans between 18 and 30 who want to travel and gain work experience for two years. About 17 000 South Africans come to the UK under this scheme every year.

Globalvisas said the working-holiday scheme would be replaced by the youth mobility scheme later this year.

"South Africans will no longer meet the requirements; therefore this opportunity will soon be something of the past."

The biggest problem is that South Africa does not have a reciprocal scheme for British youths and for that reason the youth mobility scheme would not apply to South Africans. The website warned that South Africa's unemployment rate, and corruption at home affairs, had eroded belief that there could be a solution.

And the UK home office argues that the number of South Africans in the UK should be similar to the numbers of Britons in South Africa.

The British government is also reviewing its visa-waiver scheme with South Africa. South Africans might soon need a visa to travel to Britain and this would cost them over £60 (about R1 000).