UK Government Department Says It Will Cost $7 To Send It An Email, But Only If You Are A Foreigner

from the no-real-reason,-we're-just-racist-bigots dept

Fri, Jun 2nd 2017 10:46am — Glyn Moody

Last June, the UK held a referendum on whether to stay in the European Union, or to make a British exit -- Brexit. The majority of those casting their votes -- but only 36% of the UK electorate -- chose to turn their backs on Europe and its people. Since then, the British government has been taking every opportunity to burnish its xenophobic credentials, and with some success: recent figures show that EU citizens who have been resident in the UK for years are leaving in droves.

But it seems that the UK government feels it hasn't punished those foolish enough to live beyond the white cliffs of Dover as much as it could, and has come up with a cunning new plan to show Jane and Johnny Foreigner they are not welcome in any way, shape or form. The government department that handles immigration and the granting of UK visas has just announced that there will be some additional discrimination, specifically:

customers [applying from outside the UK] who contact UK Visas and Immigration by email will be charged £5.48 [about $7]

While true-blue emails born in the pure digital air of Britain's sceptered isle can still be sent free of charge, any emails containing filthy foreign IP packets will be whacked with a $7 charge, presumably to have their electrons scrubbed clean of transmissible diseases and the smell of garlic.

The underlying message to people thinking about visiting the UK should therefore be clear: you and your pathetic tourist spending power are no longer wanted. Just like in the US.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+

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Filed Under: brexit, charging, emails, fees, uk, visas

44 Comments

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Andrea Torti, 2 Jun 2017 @ 10:50am

UK... *facepalm*
"But it seems that the UK government feels it hasn't punished those foolish enough to live beyond the white cliffs of Dover as much as it could"

LOL - my exact feeling.

Maybe they'r going to use that money to ramp up their cybersecurity levels - *cough* WannaCry *cough*
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 10:52am

VPN prices will accommodate this development.
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Ninja (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 10:54am

I wonder if we'll be able to use the UK as a case-study on how blocking immigration and screwing your citizens that came from abroad and are living legally in your country actually harms the economy. Or the US.
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- Arthur Moore (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:52am
  
  Japan
  When it comes to being racist and blocking immigration, look no further than Japan.
  
  They have major problems with birth rate, and an aging population. However, "no gaijin" is a common thing that westerners hear if they go into even the wrong restaurant in the multicultural areas.
  
  Japan is hoping for a robotic revolution, because they aren't allowing people in.
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  - R.H. (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 3:23pm
    
    Re: Japan
    They started out isolationist, then westerners decided to force them to open their borders and they figured out imperialism pretty quickly. Later on, the United States smacked them with the two most powerful weapons ever used in wartime for their efforts. After that kind of backlash, I'd go back to whatever worked before too.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2017 @ 2:08am
      
      Re: Re: Japan
      Nice way of skipping over the atrocities of WWII. The poor, poor Japanese.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Roger Strong (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:01am

But it seems that the UK government feels it hasn't punished those foolish enough to live beyond the white cliffs of Dover as much as it could...

Unlike those who keep their bank accounts beyond the white cliffs of Dover.
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- Wendy Cockcroft, 6 Jun 2017 @ 5:25am
  
  Re:
  Natch. Is it bad that I'm hoping Labour will win the next election, if only to show that fascism is not acceptable in Britain? We've gone far too far to the right.
  
  I live in the UK and honestly, Our Tess and that prat Boris Johnson are turning into Trump's lapdogs. Result: the economy is suffering. They're not pro-business if their policies don't benefit business.
  
  We need to get back to a left, right, and middle. The sooner, the better — for all of us.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:12am

Nothing xenophobic about not wanting to invite people in that don't share your cultural values, and aren't willing to assimilate.

While the U.S. likes to call itself the melting pot, that shit only works when the new addition "melts," and allows itself to become one with their new nation.
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- Finnegan (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:20am
  
  Re:
  So "nothing xenophobic about..." is the new "I'm not racist, but..."? It's so hard to keep up with poorly veiled racist lingo these days.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:39am
    
    Re: Re:
    Wrong, cultures do not mix.
    
    The BLM movement and leftist colleges are now calling for segregation again by the original segregationist... Democrats.
    
    The difference is that that segregation is supposed to be Black only instead of White only.
    
    So you are the racist, not the people you claim to be racist.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 12:16pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I think you mistook TD for WND. It's a common mistake amongst right wing nutters. And "no you're the racist" is definitely the new "I'm not racist but...."
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:03pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        No, it's called being a snowflake racist and looking for every chance you can get to call everyone else a racist as a disguise.
        
        Calling others a racist is typically a beard for your own racism.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:23pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "So you are the racist, not the people you claim to be racist." Well ok then. That clears that right up.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:30pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I am only marginally racist, the problem is that you are far more of a racist and like to deflect to hide it.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 2:02pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "Hypocrisy is a nasty drug friend... people DO notice when you take it." This is fun.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Stephen T. Stone (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 4:03pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        
        I am […] racist
        
        Well, at least you admitted it, and that is the first step to confronting your racism and changing yourself. Unless you enjoy being a racist, in which case you can follow the example of Confederate monuments in the South and disappear.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2017 @ 6:24am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Isn't this more of the self-righteous white folk's holier-than-thou attitude that Mr. Self Proclaimed Slightly Racist is talking about? at least he sounds like he knows himself, while comments like yours come across as naive at best.
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- orbitalinsertion (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:43am
  
  Re:
  IKR? The nerve of the fkn Polish...
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- Roger Strong (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:54am
  
  Re:
  
  Nothing xenophobic about not wanting to invite people in that don't share your cultural values, and aren't willing to assimilate.
  
  Which has nothing whatsoever to do with the story.
  
  While the U.S. likes to call itself the melting pot, that shit only works when the new addition "melts," and allows itself to become one with their new nation.
  
  A claim that has applied equally to EVERY wave of immigration over the last 250+ years. Sure, you get the occasional "Little Italy" or "Chinatown." But they tend to fade away after a few generations other than for tourism purposes.
  
  Each wave has added new bits of culture and tradition - and often skin colors - to the melting pot. THAT's what the xenophobes and racists have never liked. THEY are the ones clinging to their niche monoculture and refuse to assimilate.
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- Anonymous Coward, 4 Jun 2017 @ 9:08am
  
  Re:
  My mother was born to Italian immigrants in Brooklyn in the '30s, and hatred for Italian immigrants was very high--when she was in her teens, the US was at war with Italy, and she was called many racist names, like "dago" and "guinea" and "wop". She was told to "go home". When it came to buying property, Italians were red-lined, just as black and Hispanic people were (and frankly, still are.) My grandparents never really did learn to speak English fluently, and my mother told me she remembered being in the first grade in public school and not understanding a word the teacher said.
  
  My mother had light brown hair, pale skin, and blue eyes, so she didn't fit the Italian cliche of dark hair, dark eyes, and olive skin, which is why she was able to (eventually) "pass for white" by anglicizing her name. It wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I found out the name I knew my mother by was one she adopted at the age of 18.
  
  It did explain why my mother never allowed her kids, or really anyone within hearing, including my father, to use racial epithets or express racist thoughts without being told off by her. In the '60s, when I was a little kid, I pointed at the "N" word someone had written on a wall and asked what it meant, and she said, "It's a word that was invented to hurt people, and it says much worse things about the person who says it than the person it's said to."
  
  A lot of people today forget just how prejudiced Americans were against Italian immigrants, and don't realize that all it took was the passage of time for Italians to become "acceptably American", although in certain parts of the country, certain people still call them (us?) "Eye-talians". Those people are giving away their continued prejudice with that flagrant and insulting mis-pronounciation. Most Americans have taken the gifts Italian immigrants brought with them as completely acceptable and, well, just part of America, like Italian food and Mediterranean style.
  
  Here's hoping your kids and grandkids will shake their heads sadly at your racism and just not get why you're the way you are.
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  - Wendy Cockcroft, 6 Jun 2017 @ 5:26am
    
    Re: Re:
    Thank you for posting this comment.
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TheResidentSkeptic (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:29am

Other Charges?
If they have been paying attention to how some companies bill, the actual invoice will be $7 for "sending" it to them; $12 for them "reading" it; $32 for them "responding" to it; a $15 service fee; a $9 "cost recovery fee"...
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:37am

hmmm....
"Since then, the British government has been taking every opportunity to burnish its xenophobic credentials,"

Yea, ad hominem attacks right off the start. So, you acknowledge that you have already lost the argument. As usual, you failed to truly understand the problem and parrot ideals you have been told to parrot by the in-crowd.
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- orbitalinsertion (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:52am
  
  Re: hmmm....
  People who use the phrase "ad hominem attack" are parroting something which neither they, nor the ones they parrot, understand. This usage is fractally wrong. If you want to complain about a perceived insult, just say "insult", rather than attempt to imply a failed argument or convey an illusory weight to your response with magical-sounding words which only fool those of the same persuasion and equally lacking in critical thinking skills.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:07pm
    
    Re: Re: hmmm....
    got it, okay for you but not for others.
    
    Hypocrisy is a nasty drug friend... people DO notice when you take it.
    
    The classic leftist move is to label things like this from their doctrine approved "deck of cards". You folks have the worst possible understanding of anything. White is Black, Up is Down, and right is wrong.
    
    I am a big fan of ad hominmen attacks, I just take the time to call you hypocrites out when you do it after having made that complain so, so many times!
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    - Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:45pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: hmmm....
      I fail to see how that statement is an insult or an ad hominem. It's a general description of the sorts of policies they've been passing recently, and it's statement of the theme of the article to follow. As if to say "The following story is yet more evidence of a general xenophobia that the UK government is expressing."
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Talmyr (profile), 8 Jun 2017 @ 6:09am
      
      Re: Re: Re: hmmm....
      I can tell you that our government is being pretty xenophobic at the moment. If the whole Brexit debate had been framed in purer "we love our own rules, not other people's" terms then that would have been one thing, but instead there is the whole "stop the rivers of darkies" stance that UKIP pushed and the Tories embraced. And despite the Tory pledges to "stop Johnny Foreigner from sullying our shores, women and jobs" they've neither slowed down immigration nor dealt with the actual need for it. In fact, it's only their blatant anti-Europeanism which seems to be blunting levels at all, along with destroying the economy.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 11:55am

"-- but only 36% of the UK electorate -- chose to turn their backs on Europe and its people."

Irrelevant. They didn't vote, assuming the methodology of the polling is even sound to begin with.

Secondly, you've lost all credibility with the rest of the article as you're applying external values to a situation that is internal to a society. The UK can take care of itself. They don't need moralizing from people in the US that can't even keep their own house in order and royally screw up any time they interfere in other countries since WW2.
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- Roger Strong (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 12:07pm
  
  Re:
  Good thing that Britain has never interfered in other countries!
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:27pm
  
  Re:
  Irrelevant. They didn't vote, assuming the methodology of the polling is even sound to begin with.
  
  ...the methodology of the polling is that people who wanted to vote (and were eligible to do so) went down to their local polling station and cast a ballot. Those ballots were counted, and the number of ballots cast for and against remaining in the EU were determined and reported. The resulting numbers were then compared to the number of eligible voters in the UK (not sure if this was based off the census numbers or registered voters).
  
  I didn't think that the UK was at the point where the legitimacy of the voting process was in open question.
  
  Secondly, you've lost all credibility with the rest of the article as you're applying external values to a situation that is internal to a society.
  
  If you say so. Considering that many of the most influential philosophers/authors on the subject of democracy were(are) British, I can't help but disagree on that. They developed the value system he is applying after all.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 12:07pm

That's an expensive e-stamp
I can send a 1st-class letter to England for about a $1.
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 12:38pm

typical when a govt dept or govt itself doesn't want to be contacted or give out any info!
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Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 12:48pm

Jane and Johnny?
Not Juana and Juan? Maybe Gianna and Giovanni? Perhaps Jeanne and Jean?
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Avideogameplayer, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:34pm

I'd like to see them try and collect it...

Maybe Doctor Who can do it...
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- Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2017 @ 1:49pm
  
  Re:
  Yeah, I was wondering this too. Once you send them an email how do they charge you the $7? Presumably if you actually follow through and get a visa, they can tack it on to some kind of existing registration fee, but if you decide not to follow through, what are they gonna do? You can't just charge an email account like it was a credit card.
  
  Are they also going to try to charge $7 for any emails they receive from any Nigerian Princes?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2017 @ 6:28am
    
    Re: Re:
    Apparently it's a pop-up paywall which you have to pay through with a card or Paypal before you can use their messaging service. (Not your own email account.)
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    - Anonymous Coward, 3 Jun 2017 @ 1:50pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I was wondering how they were going to prevent a flood of unpaid emails.
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    - The Wanderer (profile), 7 Jun 2017 @ 6:42am
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      If you're using their messaging service (presumably through a Web form), you're not sending E-mail. If you're contacting them by E-mail, you're doing it by sending mail from an independent, pre-existing E-mail account to a known (and publicly annouce-able) E-mail address.
      
      They wouldn't be the first people to try to define "fill out a Web form that goes into our systems and may show up in a shared mailbox as an E-mail eventually" as "send an E-mail to us", or vice versa, but they're just as wrong as all the other people who've done that are.
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Ed (profile), 2 Jun 2017 @ 2:27pm

Would anyone from the UK who wishes to send me an email please deposit $7 into my PayPal account?

Thanks.
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Rocky, 2 Jun 2017 @ 5:03pm

Oh the horror...
... why would they punish all those poor e-mail spam operators, they will surely go bankrupt now!
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PricateFrazer, 3 Jun 2017 @ 12:30am

Sadly it's Americas and UK's turn to be embarrassing fascists for a decade.
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- Wendy Cockcroft, 6 Jun 2017 @ 5:28am
  
  Re:
  Good lord, no. We really do need a return to a sensible middle ground, stat.
  
  The trouble is, it's now seen as leftist.
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kitsune361, 3 Jun 2017 @ 6:02pm

It's about cutting cost.

From 1 June, all customer enquiries will be handled by a new commercial partner Sitel UK.

The new contract will see a number of changes for customers. These changes help the government reduce costs and ensure those who benefit directly from the UK immigration system make an appropriate contribution.

It's outsourcing at it's finest, save the tax payers money and pass the costs along to the people.
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