{"id":21728,"date":"2025-12-28T07:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T05:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jhb-webdevelopers\/channelafrica\/news\/uk-secures-migrant-return-deal-with-angola-namibia-drc-faces-visa-curbs\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T16:32:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T14:32:43","slug":"uk-secures-migrant-return-deal-with-angola-namibia-drc-faces-visa-curbs","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/uk-secures-migrant-return-deal-with-angola-namibia-drc-faces-visa-curbs\/","title":{"rendered":"UK secures migrant return deal with Angola, Namibia; DRC faces visa curbs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Angola and Namibia have agreed to accept the return of illegal migrants and criminals after the British government threatened visa penalties for countries refusing to co-operate, the United Kingdom(UK) Home Office said late on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been stripped of fast-track visa services and preferential treatment for VIPs and decision-makers after failing to meet Britain&#8217;s requirements to improve cooperation, the Home Office said.<\/p>\n<p>Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Britain could escalate measures to a complete halting of visas for the DRC unless &#8220;co-operation rapidly improves.&#8221;<br \/>\n&#8220;We expect countries to play by the rules. If one of their citizens has no right to be here, they must take them back,&#8221; the Home Secretary added.<\/p>\n<p>The agreements mark the first major change under reforms announced last month to make refugee status temporary and speed up the deportation of those who arrive illegally in Britain.<\/p>\n<p>Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the UK has &#8220;removed more than 50,000 people with no right to remain&#8221; since July last year, a 23% increase on the previous period, and instructed diplomats to make returns a top priority.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":13027,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[78,26],"class_list":["post-21728","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-featured","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"The agreements mark the first major change under reforms announced last month.","published_date":null,"news_description":"The agreements mark the first major change under reforms announced last month.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21728","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21728\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25288,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/21728\/revisions\/25288"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=21728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}