A Linden man, who is among the first group of travellers to the United Kingdom since the lifting of the visa requirement, was denied entry on arrival.
Immigration officers at the Heathrow Airport in London denied Teon Hope entry on the grounds that they were unsatisfied with amount of money he had in his possession for his length of stay.
According to his sister, Yusiny Joungaye, who moved to the UK in 2018 to work in the health sector, the immigration officer, who she spoke with said “they have no issue with my support for him, they were just not happy with the amount of money he travelled with the fact that he didn’t have his business documents with him”.
Hope travelled to the UK with £400, which is the equivalent of $98,000.
Joungaye explained that after she learnt of the visa-free waiver she excitedly booked a ticket for her brother. She left Guyana in 2018 and had not seen him in five years.
She said that when he arrived in the country, her brother was detained by immigration officers. And she was contacted to confirm whether she was expecting him.
“When I spoke to the Border Control Officer and tried to get an explanation I was told he didn’t have enough funds with him and he did not have his business documents with him. Hence his denial of entry. I stated to the officer as I had done several times that I was going to support him and he was going to be staying with me. Her response was she can’t go into details and the decision has been made by the Chief Officer and there was nothing she could do about it,” Joungaye related.
Though he was denied entry this time, Hope was informed that he can return but needs to present his bank statement and his business papers, the sister said.
Hope arrived in Barbados yesterday afternoon and is currently there. His sister explained that she was speaking with their travel agent to adjust his return ticket so he could have a flight back to Guyana.
Hope was preparing to spend six months in the UK. His sister had booked a return ticket to cover that amount of time. She acknowledged that she erred on that aspect.
The UK in October had announced that holders of Guyanese passports would will be allowed visa-free entry for up to six months. The waiver became effective from November 9th.
However, at the announcement of the removal of the visa restriction, leisure and business visitors were reminded by Deputy UK High Commissioner, Judy Kpogho that “like anywhere else, you will still need to clear the immigration.”
President Irfaan Ali during the announcement had cautioned Guyanese to not abuse the system.
“…I want to say to all Guyanese that with these waivers come an important responsibility to all of us. We have a responsibility to safeguard these decisions. they come with hard work and they take a long time and we’ll be working very closely with the UK in strengthening our systems to ensure there is proper monitoring and to ensure that there is no abuse of the system,” Ali said at the announcement last month.
“When it comes to the people of Guyana, you have to determine what future you want. All of us. If you mess this up you mess up everything else that comes after this,” he stressed.
British Airways is to begin flying to Guyana from March next year and the visa-free access for Guyanese is seen as support to boost traffic between the two countries.
