[Ripped from stuff.co.nz]
Holidaymakers who only say they plan to sightsee during a visit to Britain could find their tourist visa applications being refused, a monitoring body said in a report.
It is a standard reason given for not granting tourist visas, the Independent Monitor for Entry Clearance Refusals, Linda Costelloe Baker, found in her annual report.
Would-be visitors who have never before travelled abroad could also find it difficult to holiday in Britain.
Costelloe Baker cited one case where an applicant had been told by an officer: "You have never previously undertaken any foreign travel before and I can see little reason for this trip."
"This is a common reason for refusal," she added.
"Entry clearance officers can use some ridiculous reasons when refusing a visa for tourist visits," Costelloe Baker said.
She cited one case where an applicant who had previously travelled abroad was refused entry because the countries were "nowhere near the UK".
In another case the applicant was told he or she did not have a "sufficient command of the language for the purposes of tourism".
Costelloe Baker said in her report: "Well, if knowledge of the language was a requirement for travel, that would certainly stop lots of British citizens going on their hols."
Taking annual vacation in this country was not a good enough reason for one entry clearance officer, while wanting to visit friends near the seaside fell short for another applicant from St Petersburg because he had not said where he wanted to visit.
A would-be tourist who wanted to stay in a hotel in London while visiting friends in Surrey and Kent was turned down because the entry officer had misread it as Cirencester "far from his friends".