At a recent seminar in a City College I was talking to the students about how a ‘Great suspicion’ of foreign students by UK Border Agency was risking cashflow for higher education, complain business school leaders
The enforcement of complicated new visa laws are deterring overseas students who bring billions of pounds to the UK economy, business school leaders have warned. The government introduced a new points-based immigration system for non-European students on 31 March to prevent terrorists from entering the country, and to crack down on bogus colleges.
The British Council estimates international students are worth more than £8.5bn to the UK economy.
But as universities recruit for next year there is growing alarm that UK Border Agency officials are incorrectly interpreting the rules and rejecting genuine students, threatening a huge source of revenue when the UK is already in financial crisis.
It is encouraging that officials from the umbrella group Universities UK are meeting with the Home Office this week to raise the issue of lengthy delays and inconsistencies in visa decisions for students and staff.
Rather than focusing on fraudulent applications, officials are making decisions based on photo backgrounds and addresses written in the wrong order.
Problems will become increasingly serious for institutions as their recruitment cycle peaks in July and August and students are left unable to start courses in September.
In one case an application was rejected because a copy of a degree certificate from 20 years ago had been submitted, rather than the original.
Tags: Points BAsed System, Student Visas, Studying in UK, Tier 4 UK Visas
