CONFIDENTIAL
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From the Secretary of State
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27
3/11
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My Barmy Bon
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Donglas
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
12 November 1986
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China:
Delay in the Issue of Visas
During the State Visit to China, the Foreign Minister, Wu Xuegian, spoke to me about increasing problems over visas for visitors from China. He was concerned about delays of up to two months for students, members of the Chinese Embassy here and official delegations. Mr Wu showed real concern about this and reverted to the subject more than once during the visit. I said that I had recently been told of these difficulties. I undertook to look into
the problem and to give Mr Wu an early reply.
These representations from the Chinese Foreign Minister have been matched by an increasing number of complaints from people in the UK who are sponsoring visitors from China about the time taken to issue visas. There have
been a number of cases of official visits having to be postponed and academics missing the start of their courses.
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Last week, officials from our Departments, together with those from other agencies involved, met to look at the reasons for the delays and to see if they could simplify
The basic the procedures for some categories of visitors. problem is that the number of visa applications has increased dramatically in line with our improved relationship with China. Overall, Chinese visitors have risen from 5,195 in
The Rt Hon Douglas Hurd CBE MP
CONFIDENTIAL
/1985
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