Gurkhas.com - Article: UK to ease student visa restriction from March 1 (Source: Nepalnews.com) Relevant article posted within: Nepalese Overseas Students on Short-Term Visas Face Tough Times Ahead (The DailyMail, 08.02.10)

UK to ease student visa restriction from March 1 (Source: Nepalnews.com) Relevant article posted within: Nepalese Overseas Students on Short-Term Visas Face Tough Times Ahead (The DailyMail, 08.02.10)

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Posted by: santosh, on 2/8/2010, in category "Community News And Events"
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UK to ease student visa restriction from March 1

The British government is likely to partially lift the ban on student visas in Nepal, Bangladesh and North India, much to the respite of thousands of Nepali students who were feeling ripped off due to UK’s decision to suspend the visa application under the ‘Tier 4 Point Based System’.

Nepali students wishing to study in higher education courses in UK will possibly be able to apply for a student visa from March 1, 2010.

The British Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills Pat McFadden recently announced that the suspension will be lifted for all students wanting to study higher education courses, whether foundation degrees, undergraduate or postgraduate with effect from March 1.

He said that the temporary suspension [of Tier 4 visa application from Feb.1 for students from Nepal, Bangladesh and North India] was taken “in response to a huge surge in applications over a very short period of time."

However, he said the ban will continue for the time being for student applicants who wish to enter the UK to study at a level lower than undergraduate level.

The British Embassy based in Kathmandu has also confirmed that the UK Agency is going to review the temporary suspension early March.

“The UK Border Agency, which is responsible for securing the borders and controlling migration in the UK, also would lift the suspension gradually ensuring a sustainable return to a normal visa operation for students who aspire to study in the UK in the next academic year,” the embassy said in a press statement Wednesday.

It however said no date has been announced for the lifting of the suspension in Nepal.

The unexpectedly high numbers of student visa applications from Nepal, according to the statement, would require the UK Border Agency to scrutinise applications thoroughly, look into the reasons for the increase in applications and to manage the visa process efficiently for all “customers in Nepal”.

Reports cited education consultancies that over 4,000 students from Nepal, who had paid tuition fees amounting to Rs 2 billion, have been left in lurch due to the temporary suspension on student visa application.

However, the British government recently made it clear that it was not its responsibility to help Nepali students get back the money they had transferred to ‘illegal’ universities and schools in the UK.

Spokesman for North India and Nepal visa section of the UK, Simon Dadd, recently told a leading national daily that the UK Border Agency “won’t intervene in the contract between individuals and the institutions”.

According to the UK Bordering Agency, 5,300 Nepali students had applied for UK student visas in 2009. nepalnews.com

Relevant article posted within: Nepalese Overseas Students on Short-Term Visas Face Tough Times Ahead (The DailyMail, 08.02.10)

Alan Johnson yesterday promised yet another crack down on the rampant abuse of the foreign student visa regime.

The Home Secretary said tougher rules would be introduced requiring applicants to speak English to near-GCSE level and ban those on short UK courses from bringing dependants.

Officials claim the new regulations will lead to a sharp reduction in the 240,000 student visas currently issued by the UK each year - the equivalent of one every two minutes. But the Conservativesaccused the Government of 'floundering around' as it sought to correct its own mistakes.

The student visa system was only tightened last year when a new points-based system was introduced. However, abuse has continued.

Last week the Home Office was forced to suspend student visa applications from northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh amid fears of widespread abuse.

The system was overwhelmed with 13,500 applications from northern India in the last three months of 2009 - compared with 1,800 during the same period of 2008.

In a statement, Mr Johnson said: 'We created our points-based system so that we could respond quickly to changing circumstances, when necessary, to raise the bar students have to meet to come to the UK.

'We remain open to those foreign students who want to come to the UK for legitimate study - they remain welcome.

'But those who are not seriously interested in coming here to study but come primarily to work - they should be in no doubt that we will come down hard on those that flout the rules.'

Currently, anyone who successfully applies for a student visa can travel to the UK and work legally for up to 20 hours a week.

They can also bring a spouse who is free to take a job.

Under the new rules, which do not require a change to the law, successful applicants from outside the EU will have to speak English to a level only just below GCSE standard, rather than beginner level as at present.

Students taking courses below degree level will be allowed to work for only ten hours a week, instead of 20 as at present.

Those on courses which last under six months will not be allowed to bring dependants into the country, while the dependants of students on courses below degree level will not be allowed to work.

Also, visas for courses below degree level will also be granted only if the institutions they attend are on a new register, the Highly Trusted Sponsors List.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: 'The student visa system has been the biggest hole in our border controls for a decade under this Government, and Ministers still seem to be floundering around trying desperately to correct their own mistakes.

'They should be ending the situation where a student visa is a way of coming to the UK to stay, by banning the practice of moving from course to course in order to stay on in the UK and stopping overseas students from applying for work permits without going home first.

'And overseas students should pay a cash deposit which they lose if they don't leave the country when their courses are over.'

Almost 1.5million student visas have been handed out by Labour in the past eight years.

The beneficiaries included Christmas Day transatlantic flight bomb suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab - given permission by the Home Office to study mechanical engineering at University College London between 2005 and 2008.

A string of other terror suspects have used the student visa route into the UK - not always by attending socalled bogus colleges.

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