* Tory plan will require some students to hand over £2,000 bond
* Foreign students would be banned from switching courses
A proposal for clamping down on visas to foreign students, particularly Pakistan and Afghanistan, that includes requirements for some student applicants to hand over an annual £2,000 bond and a tightening of colleges entitled to sponsor students, was likely to be proposed on Friday by the British shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, The Guardian reported.
The Tories, who regard the student visa system as the weakest link in Britain’s border controls, demanded a ban on students switching courses in the country.
Grayling has been consulting higher education about the proposals, aware that foreign students were money-spinners for the financially pressed sector. He claimed that the consequence of Britain’s lax controls was “tens of thousands of bogus students in the UK and hundreds of unregulated colleges providing student visas, but little education”.
The paper said “last month a total of 1,925 organisations stood approved by the UK Border Agency to sponsor migrant students, yet Grayling points out that there are only 165 universities and higher education colleges in the UK”. Many of the rest are self-accredited colleges. Grayling said there were now more than three times as many foreign students entering the country as when Labour was in power.
“In 2008-09 the government issued 236,470 student visas. In 1998 only 69,607 were issued. Student visas now represent three-quarters of the visas issued under the UK points-based system, introduced in 2008,” The Guardian said.
The Tories say in a recent nine-month period, “only 29 visa applicants out of 66,000 applying to enter the UK from Pakistan were actually interviewed by officials”.
More than 13,000 applications from Afghanistan and Pakistan have not been fraud-checked at all since October 2008, the paper said.
According to Grayling’s plan, only higher education institutions registered at Companies House would be entitled to fast-track students. Foreign students from non-recognised bodies would be required to pay a bond of £1,000-£2,000, repaid in instalments at the end of each academic year.
Rules would be tightened to prevent student applicants borrowing money to prove they are financially independent.
Students would be required to leave the UK after their course in order to apply for a work visa. Daily Times
salam!!!!we have applied for a settlement visas in 2007..after 2 months BHC call us for an interview!!after interviewing my mom(mother) there was some problem in my mom marriage certificate…then there was no reply from embassy at that time…then in 2009 Gerry’s islamabad call us to collect our documents…so when i went there with my mom there the documents were contained only my dad pay slips TB test certificates!!and the strange thing was that there were no passports of ours in envelope and no any type of reply!!!they have written on envelope “without passports” then my dad sent them a letter according to our case then the reply from embassy side was that “we have no trace of your applicants” then my dad sent them two detailed letters three months before but he has not received any reply yet!!and also he sent them two detailed emails with attachments..but there is still no reply from them on email and even no auto reply on email!!!two emails were sent..1 to “visqry2.islamabad@fco.gov.uk” and another 1 was to “UkVisasection.pakistansettlementEnquries@fco.gov.uk”
so i want that you please help us in this problem…i shall be very thankful..i hope hearing from you soon!!
thank you
Dear sir/Madam,
I have done my F.sc pre-eng exams my Father was died in Hajj.He is also P.hd from Liverpool University and get scholarship.So i would like and interested in Engineering,so its a request that i need a scholarship to get education from there.
Truely,
Faizan Shakeel.