IT IS little more than a week since Ai Weiwei, a Chinese artist and perpetual irritant to his country’s authorities, was given back his passport, marking the end of a four-year travel ban. Mr Ai has already made arrangements to visit Europe, stopping first in Germany. But on July 30th it emerged that the visa for his proposed onward trip to Britain would be unexpectedly limited, after Mr Ai received a letter from a bureaucrat saying that his travel would be restricted because of a failure to own up to his “criminal” past. Mr Ai is used to such interference. The surprise was that the letter came not from the Chinese authorities, but from the British.
In a letter from the UK Visas and Immigration authority dated July 29th, which Mr Ai uploaded to his Instagram account, a Beijing-based “entry clearance manager” writes: “You have applied for a six month business visit visa, but on this occasion your visa has been restricted to the requested dates of travel on your visa application form”. The reason given is that Mr Ai answered “No” to a question asking whether he had...Continue reading
via Brian Rushton, Britain restricts “criminal” Ai Weiwei’s visa request
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