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The UK Border Agency has announced that passport holders from South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Bolivia and Venezuela who are registered on the Iris Recognition Immigration System (IRIS) will need to re-enroll in order to continue using the IRIS facility. IRIS is a means of border control allowing registered travelers to enter the United Kingdom through automated barriers at certain airports, where a registered person’s identity is confirmed by simply looking into a special camera.

Additional information about the re-enrollment requirement, and about IRIS generally, is available on the IRIS section of the Border Agency’s website.
 

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The United Kingdom's government has announced the start dates for new short stay visitor visa requirements for nationals of Bolivia, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland and Venezuela. Under the new requirements, nationals of these countries wishing to visit the UK for up to six months, will need to obtain a visit visa, and provide their fingerprints before they travel. Travelers from these countries who transit through the UK en route to other countries also will need a transit visa.

Start dates for the new visa requirements are:

• May 18, 2009 for Bolivian and Venezuelan nationals. Venezuelan nationals holding valid biometric passports containing an electronic chip will be exempt from the visa requirement.
• July 1, 2009 for nationals of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland.

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The United Kingdom’s Home Office announced the introduction of new visa checks for Bolivia, Lesotho, South Africa, Swaziland and Venezuela after they failed to pass Britain’s strict new visa waiver test. This measure is just one of many the government has enacted to further tighten border security. The visa waiver test reviewed all non-European countries and regions to evaluate the risk their citizens might pose, in terms of illegal immigration, crime and security, by not having to apply for a visa before entering the UK.

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