DR Congo has failed to co-operate on repatriating undocumented migrants and foreign criminals, London has said<\/p>\n
The UK has introduced new visa restrictions targeting citizens of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), claiming that authorities in Kinshasa have failed to co-operate on repatriating illegal immigrants.
\nOn Saturday, the UK\u2019s Home Secretary announced that, under the new measures, senior officials and influential figures from the Central African country will no longer benefit from preferential visa arrangements, while fast-track visa processing has been withdrawn for all Congolese applicants.
\nThe move follows warnings issued in November by UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who cautioned DR Congo, Angola, and Namibia that visa sanctions would be imposed unless they improved co-operation in repatriating about 4,000 undocumented migrants. According to the ministry, the three African countries have repeatedly hindered Britain\u2019s attempts to deport thousands of undocumented migrants and individuals with criminal records.
\n\u201cThe days of Britain being a soft touch for illegal migrants and foreign criminals are over,\u201d Shabana Mahmood said on X.<\/p>\n
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However, the ministry noted that Angola and Namibia have since pledged to improve their procedures and accept the return of illegal migrants and criminals. As a result, both countries have avoided the new visa restrictions.
\n\u201cFurther, countries that refuse the return of their citizens will lose the privilege of entering the UK,\u201d the Home Office noted.
\nMahmoud stressed that these actions marked \u201cjust the start\u201d of the measures London was implementing to secure the border. She added that governments were expected to comply with established rules, emphasizing that \u201ccountries must play by the rules\u201d and that if a person had no right to stay, their home country \u201cmust take them back.\u201d
\nIn October, the UK imposed visa requirements on Botswana nationals over concerns about rising illegal migration, ending years of visa-free travel.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: UK revokes visa-free entry for African state<\/p>\n
The UK Home Office reported a record 111,084 asylum applications between June 2024 and June 2025, marking a 14% increase year-on-year. The figure also exceeds the previous peak of 103,081 claims recorded in 2002.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
DR Congo has failed to co-operate on repatriating undocumented migrants and foreign criminals, London has said The UK has introduced new visa restrictions targeting citizens of the Democratic Republic of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t