Proposal: U.K. visa time limit cut in half to three months

LONDON -- Americans could visit Britain for tourism or business for only three months instead of the current six under a proposal made by the government here Tuesday to discourage people from overstaying their welcome.

The proposal from the Home Office would not only limit Americans' stay, but that of visitors from most other nations. Visitors traveling to Britain from European Union countries would still have no time limit.

It would bring Britain's time limit for visiting the country without a visa in line with the 90-day limit imposed by the United States, Australia and many European nations.

Britain immigration minister Liam Byrne said the proposed changes walk a fine line between keeping out those who overstay and work here illegally, and welcoming legitimate visitors who boost the British economy.

"Our aim is to make the system more secure, but also to ensure that we maintain (Britain's) position as a destination of choice for tourists," he said in a statement accompanying the proposal.

The proposal, which the Home Office is seeking public comment on until March before moving ahead with enacting any of it, also would require some British families to put up a cash bond if their relatives come to visit.

The bond is to guarantee that relatives living outside the European Union leave Britain when their time is up. If their relatives overstay, the families would lose the deposit.

The government also proposes special visas for foreigners come to Britain for special events, such as the 2012 London Olympics.

The Home Office suggested that halving the limit on how long tourists could stay in the country would not affect what was a $30.8 billion tourism industry last year.

It said that the "vast majority" of the roughly 5.75 million visitors who came to Britain last year stayed for less than three months. According to the Office for National Statistics, only 1.1% of foreign tourists stayed three months or more in 2005.

Americans still are the main source of Britain's tourism income, despite fewer of them coming in recent years after 9/11 attacks and most recently because of a weak dollar against the pound, figures from the British tourism agency VisitBritain show.

"We don't anticipate it would have a very significant effect on tourism," said Elliott Frisby of VisitBritain, the nation's tourism agency. "It's very, very rare that anyone stays longer than three months." The number of North Americans visiting Britain during the first 10 months of this year is down by 5% to 3.9 million compared to a year ago, Frisby said. The weak dollar, which is trading at $2 to 1 British pound, is the main reason, he said.

Britain is an increasingly popular place for many people in the world to seek to live and work — legally and illegally.

Applications for visas have gone up by about 50% in the past five years and more than two million were issued last year.

Tuesday's proposal follows other proposed steps Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government has announced to try to crackdown on illegal immigrants.

It has introduced a "points" system for foreigners who seek to move to Britain to work. Those with high or sought-after skills, such as doctors, gain higher points and are more likely to get work visas.

It has proposed issuing mandatory ID cards for foreign nationals living in Britain. And it is requiring fingerprints accompany visa applications from people from 120 nations who want to live here.