Member News
By Lord Clement-Jones - 18th November 2010
The government should "grasp the nettle" over the lack of UK visas for Iraqi business people, according to Lord Clement-Jones.
Last month UK Trade and Investment, the Middle East Association and British Expertise organised the largest ever delegation to the Erbil Trade Fair in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. It was headed by Sir Andrew Cahn, the UKTI head and consisted of some 35 companies and 52 delegates.
From one exhibitor last year at the main trade fair, we now had a UK pavilion and 10 British business exhibitors representing a wide range of services and products. So, finally, after a slow start, British business is beginning to punch its weight in business development in Iraq. All the delegates were very positive about their prospects, in the Kurdistan region in particular, and the senior level of the visit demonstrated how seriously British business is now taking the Iraqi market.
The one major cloud hanging over our potential, however, is the question of business visas. If Iraqi business people – from whatever part of Iraq – want to follow up discussions or negotiations with UK business, they have to go to Amman in person, with no certainty that, after waiting there for seven to ten days, they are going to be granted a visa. There are many potential visitors who simply cannot spend that amount of time away from their employment.
By contrast, those applying for a Schengen visa in Baghdad (and facilities are becoming available in Erbil too) have to wait for two to three weeks, but at least they can leave their passports with the issuing Schengen Post and return to their place of residence. This means that UK business is losing out badly to other EU countries where business visas are much more easily obtainable.
Since 2006, and now this week in Parliament, I have been urging the government to establish visa-issuing facilities in Iraq itself, preferably in all three major cities – Erbil, Bagdad and Basra – but I have continually been met by the objection that the prime consideration is security and no suitable premises can be found.
The current British Embassy offices in Erbil are in a hotel on a hilltop, far away from the centre of Erbil, in strong contrast to the British Council. British business is already losing out from the government's failure to invest in proper visa facilities and biometric equipment. As the oil output from Iraq increases and the Iraqi market for goods and services increases exponentially, this failure will come to look more and more short-sighted and more and more detrimental to British business.
Currently there are reviews under way on the location of the Erbil Embassy office and on the visa service to Iraq as a whole. Let us hope the coalition government grasps the nettle soon.
Lord Clement-Jones is to ask the government 'Whether they have reviewed the process of issuing visas for Iraqi nationals and the location where they are issued.'
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