This summer’s visit by eight Gambians arranged and sponsored by the Marlborough Brandt Group (MBG) has had to be cancelled. Only one of the group of mostly young Gambians was granted a visa by the British Border Agency.
This single visa was granted to the eldest of the group who works for the Gambian Ministry of Education and has visited Marlborough before. Many of those who work for and support MBG are very upset by the ruling.
As Nick Maurice, an MBG founder and now its director, told Marlborough News Online: “This ruling has shaken to its foundations the basis of mutuality and reciprocity that MBG and its partners in the Gambia have always worked on.”
Marlborough’s long-standing link with the village of Gunjur has seen groups of students from St John’s and the College going to Gunjur one summer and a group of Gambians coming to Marlborough the next year.
Explaining the ruling, the Home Office has said that usually visitors’ visas can only be granted to those in permanent employment – that is with jobs that mean they will return to the Gambia at the end of their visit.
“The process seems to rely on having bank statements as an indication of permanent employment.” The fact is that not many young people in Gunjur have bank accounts – and part of the purpose of their coming to Marlborough is to help prepare them for employment.
MBG is mystified that the Border Agency will only grant six month visitor visas. This means that once they go home at the end of the visit to Marlborough, they are fully entitled to return to Britain on their own – at which point, the authorities believe, they can disappear and become illegal immigrants.
It is not clear why the Border Agency cannot grant visit specific visas to match the length of the sponsor’s schedule for the visitors.
Under this government’s tighter immigration rules, similar denial of visas has hit other charities in Britain wanting to bring young people to this country as part of linking schemes. It even hit the Lambeth Conference when some senior Anglican churchmen were denied visas.
The first group from Marlborough went to Gunjur in 1985 – among them Nick Fogg who was then Marlborough’s mayor. Last year a group of students from St John’s and the College helped build Gunjur’s new market – which was officially opened by Claire Perry MP when she visited Gunjur last winter.
In the past, young people from Gunjur have worked voluntarily during their visit to Marlborough one year creating a playground and another making the cycle track along the old railway line. MBG has now been told that under current rules on visitors’ visas even voluntary work is prohibited.
This summer’s group from Gunjur were going to be visiting local schools and talking to the children about life in the Gambia. They were also scheduled to help design new educational activities for young children in Wiltshire and, in particular, were going to be studying with International Baccalaureate students at St John’s and the College.
The Home Office has pointed out that some years ago four of Gambians visiting Marlborough, did abscond at the end of their visit. This caused great dismay in the Link Committee in Gunjur, at MBG and among Gambians who have settled in Britain. However in 2011 the six visitors all returned to the Gambia on schedule.