Please do not misunderstand me that I m trying to raise a political Issue here. I am not, since I am not interested in politics. As a Sri Lankan I am highly concerned about the very unfair, highly immoral and highly unjustifiable policy adopted by the British High Commission in Sri Lanka in confiscating the fee charged for issuing entry visas to the United Kingdom, in the event a visa application is rejected by them due to whatever reason. I cannot accept the fact that the British authorities have put a label on the visa fee as "non refundable" and thereby holding back other people's money forcibly. There cannot be anything called non-refundable in a civilized world. No one has the right to take other person's money by force and keep it without providing a product or service to that person to the value of the money taken from that person. In the same way if the British High Commission charges a fee from someone to issue a visa, it has a duty either to issue the visa or refund the money taken if it does not intend issuing that visa. We cannot allow the traditions or systems implimented under colonial era to continue today in our country. The Head of the Visa Section of the British High Commission insists that he had to find the money in this way within Sri Lanka to pay his staff employed at the High Commission since British treasury does not provide funds for that purpose and the Foreign & Commonwealth office in London says that they have to take monies of Sri Lankans in this manner forcibly to ease the British tax payer. This is highly rediculous. I therefore demand the British High Commission in Sri Lanka to change their highly unjustifiable and highly immoral policy of keeping the monies of people of this country forcibly and introduce a more reasonable, justifiable and people-friendly system with regard to visa fees in Sri Lanka instead.
