Student Visa Crackdown

The UK has plans to clamp down on student visas on the 3rd of March 2010. The plans come in the wake of the suspension of student visas being issued in Nepal, Northern India and Bangladesh amid suspicions that the unprecedented rise in student visa issuances in those parts of Asia is a result of fraudulent applications.

It has come to the attention of immigration authorities that many of the applicants trying for a student visa are actually doing so under the guise of coming into the UK to find a job rather than study. Between June and August the rise in student applicants led to the closure of many education providers. Immigration Minister Paul Woolas said over 200 colleges have been closed in that period alone, and the number rose to 13,500. There are claims that most of the ‘colleges’ are not actually education providers at all and there have been suggestions to define what a college is on statutory level, similarly to universities. Without this level of scrutiny bogus colleges will continue to pop up for the benefit of fraudulent agents and student applicants. It has been calculated that over 30% of migrants to the UK were student visa holders alone, most of them adults taking short courses not leading to degrees.

The current student visa system in place is the points based system, in which the applicant needed to achieve 10 points for maintenance requirements and 30 points for being offered a place at their education provider of choice, provided the school was a bona fide institution registered with the Home Office. However, there have been voices of criticism of the system, with Tory representatives stating the system was the ‘biggest hole in border controls’. Liberal Democrat shadow Home secretary Chris Huhne said the reason for this criticism is that the current student visa system does not include exit checks, which have been abolished by the Tory and Labour parties. Without exit checks, border authorities are unable to verify that a student has left the United Kingdom after their visa had expired and instead became overstayers looking for work. There have also been fears that this system allows entry for terrorist suspects – most worries have been voiced in the wake of the Detroit plane bombing attempt, as a result of which Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged a review of border controls.

Some of the proposals to have immediate effect are as follows:

-Students taking courses below degree level will be allowed to work for only 10 hours per week, as opposed to the 20 hours currently allowed;
-Dependants of students enrolled at courses below degree level will not be allowed to work;
-Student visa applicants enrolling for courses shorter than 6 months will not be able to bring dependants with them;
-All student visa applicants will need to prove a passable (near GCSE) level of English.

In addition, Conservative Shadow Home secretary Chris Grayling stated that “Ministers 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 and stopping overseas students from applying for work permits without going home first.”

Various proposals have been set up for exit verification checks. Among others, it has been put forward that a student applicant pays a lump-sum deposit fee, similar to the one paid for in tenancy agreements, which will only be paid out once the student leaves the UK. Other suggestions have gone even further, by allowing schools to withhold degrees and certificates until evidence is shown that the student has left the United Kingdom and gone back to their country.

Before any reforms are put in place, it will be examined what effect they would have on Britain’s economy.

In the meantime, the ban on applications from central Asia is still in place. We suspect that the suspension may last up to several months, admitting it will have an adverse effect on genuine student visa applicants, but clearing the fraudulent ones as well as preventing illegal immigration.

Other changes to the points based system include enhancements on Tier 2 and Tier 5 sponsor support confirmations in order to make sure applicants will not claim public funds, as well as the abolishment of the visa letter as of 22 February 2010 in favour of the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) reference number, which the Home Office will put in their system and easily track the applicant’s enrolment at the school as well as other assessment information. Maintenance requirements are also due a significant change, with applicants having to prove existence of appropriate funds for a 28-day period instead of just one day as previously.

This article was written just for information and debate purpose and should not be considered as a legal opinion for any specific business.