I spent the late afternoon and evening helping a neighbour and friend fill out his application forms to obtain a temporary charity work visa to the UK – a frightful process. Among the tasks involved was to detail every visit to another country within the last ten years, page after page of form filling, questions about having expressed “extremist views” or support for “terrorism”, if he had committed “war crimes”, if he had been convicted of breaking any law.
I wonder about the mentality of people who formulate such questions. Israel is a fairly open, western-style democracy (for Jews). It isn’t ruled by an autocrat and isn’t a place where the violent overthrow of the government might be seen as more humane than preserving the status quo. But, even in this blessed national oasis of democracy, it would, for example, be an “extremist view” to hold that the Israeli army regularly commits “war crimes” in Gaza. The idea that Palestinians have a moral right to resist the occupation, such as by throwing stones at tanks, would be “extremist”. Even to express humane, democratic values would in some case be “extremist”. One could be convicted of incitement for expressing such views.
And what of Britain itself? Those climate activists who, the other day, broke the windows of media outlets for producing feel-good stories about the recent heat wave – “Enjoy the sunshine, carry on as usual” – would obviously be seen as dangerous extremists in the minds of those who created those forms. Maybe they should be expelled from the UK? – if they happen not to have UK citizenship they probably could be – but if so, they might not be allowed into other countries that express a similarly restrictive mentality and who produce similar visa forms.
The visa costs around £350. There’s another £50+ for a meeting to provide biometric data (where one pays to enjoy the privilege of being fingerprinted and photographed). Every additional service, such as help with uploading forms, asking procedural questions, even getting an SMS to inform you that your passport has been returned to you, carries an additional price tag. Calling someone to ask questions costs 69p per minute. I would personally have strong doubts about seeking a temporary work permit to assist in a UK charity if I had to go through such a process. I would probably conclude that the UK is a paranoid and exploitive nation undeserving of my support, though it might be badly in need of all the help it can get.