Armless artist 'denied entry' to UK because he was unable to give fingerprints

A Kazakh artist who was born without arms says that he could not get permission to enter the UK last month because he could not give fingerprints. Karipbek Kuyukov planned to attend an anti-nuclear conference in Edinburgh. But he got a letter from the British Consulate in Istanbul saying his "biometrics were of poor quality" and asking him to resubmit his application. The UK Home Office said his visa was not refused and it may have been the result of a "miscommunication".



Mr Kuyukov, 44, was forced to cancel his attendance at the conference. “The trip to the international conference in Great Britain did not happen because I was denied a visa over fingerprints of insufficient quality. I was asked for additional fingerprints. Although I physically could not give them any fingerprints. My sister who was supposed to accompany me received a visa because they took her fingerprints. Why do they need fingerprints anyway?” Kuyukov said.

He added that he went to the visa center in Almaty, where his face and side photos were taken, clearly showing  that he was disabled. “The reason you are having this issue is the biometrics that were submitted with this application were of poor quality. Please get the Vac to do a totally new application with new GWF number and new biometrics making sure the biometrics are of good quality,” an extract from the visa rejection letter states.



Mr Kuyukov  added that he had no visa problems when he went to the US in December 2012. “When I applied for the visa, they saw that I don’t have hands and didn’t say anything,” Mr Kuyukov was born in the region of Semipalatinsk, the former Soviet Union's main nuclear testing ground. Many thousands of children were born with disabilities during the nuclear test programme. Mr Kuyukov has used his painting to campaign for nuclear disarmament for the past 20 years.