UK: Foreign student visas to be cut by UK

The number of visas granted to students from outside the EU is to be cut in a crackdown on abuses of the system, UK Home Secretary Alan Johnson has said.

Mr Johnson said tougher rules would require applicants to speak English to near-GCSE level and ban those on short UK courses from bringing dependants.

He said the rules were aimed at those who came to the UK primarily for work.

The Home Office would not confirm reports the changes may cut visas issued this year by tens of thousands.

A spokesman said the review of student visas had been ordered in November. In 2008/9, about 240,000 student visas were issued by the UK.

News of the measures, which will not require legislation and will be introduced within weeks, comes a week after student visa applications from Nepal, northern India and Bangladesh were suspended amid a big rise in cases.

'Raise the bar'

Last year the UK introduced a system requiring students wishing to enter the country to secure 40 points under its criteria.

However, the government has faced criticism that this has allowed suspected terrorists and other would-be immigrants into the UK, only for them to stay on despite their visas being temporary.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8502640.stm

I just saw that on BBC News.  As if they didn't change it last year already.

I wonder what this will do to language schools. 

It will kill off a lot of language schools and force hundreds of English teachers to move overseas to find work.  The knock-on economic effect of this will be devastating.  It will also affect universities in a big way.  A lot more people will lose their jobs from this than from students taking them.

Not just language schools but Universities in general.  foreign student fees are pure profit for the Universities.  

I just finished reading the BBC story, and I think it all sounds pretty good. I agree with the government that there is just too big a hole when it comes to student visas (coming from a former student visa holder). I used to work in central London at an accommodation agency, and the amount of so-called "students" from English-language colleges we used to get coming in looking for rooms to rent was huge. Some were legitimate - some clearly weren't. As part of the lease process, we required students to produce letters confirming their places at these colleges, which should have been simple enough but many couldn't and become abusive when they were refused the lease. 

Perhaps a points-based system is more relevant for other visas, say tier 1, however I never understood why student visas are truly considered points-based. It isn't as though you can acquire more points for having more qualifications to balance out gathering less points in other categories. You need to get all of the 'points' in all the categories or your application will be rejected.

I think they should just go back to the old way of doing things. When I first came over as a student in 2001, if your course was less than 6 months you were just given a visitor's visa at the border. You couldn't work and you couldn't bring dependents in.

It seems like in trying to legitimize the situation for students on shorter courses, they just created a huge loophole, and also silly situations where you can't take any course without a student visa.

When I came over in 1996 I was here for a year and got a stamp at the border.

No working allowed. 

If they just went back to the old system, universities/colleges will still get the benefit of foreign student fees. Of course enrollment will likely go down at institutions that cater to 'students' just looking for a way to get into the country and get a work permit.

I guess there would be loss of revenue would be to the UKBA if they took away the need for student visas for courses under 6 months...I imagine that was a big contributing factor for introducing them in the first place.

I think they should just go back to the old way of doing things. When I first came over as a student in 2001, if your course was less than 6 months you were just given a visitor's visa at the border. You couldn't work and you couldn't bring dependents in.

When I did my year abroad in 1999/2000, my year-long student visa was issued at the border, too, and it was very new then that foreign students were allowed to work at all (which I thankfully took advantage of in the summer term break before I headed back to the States to finish my degree).

With all the hoops UKBA are now making students jump through to prove they've got enough funds for the entire length of study, is the right to work really necessary anymore?

If anyone has ever watched that show UK Border Force on Sky.  A lot of the fraud and infringements involve student visas.  They had this one man from India on there who was here in the UK on a student visa.  But he really didn't go to school, and just worked full time (I think you're only allowed to work 20 hours a week, except during breaks).  When the border office phoned his school, she found out it was some phoney school being run out of some office building in Birmingham.  She was not too happy.  She drew a red line through his student visa and put him on the next plane to India.

I watch UK Border Patrol all the time when I am in London!!! Ive seen several situations with fake schools and they said they had a list of at least 30 in the London area. One guy tried to get through with 15 acceptances to fake schools. Needless to say, he was bounced.

Have to agree with the gov't on this one.

Have to agree with the gov't on this one.

Why?

Why?

Why not? I personally don't see this having a devastating knock on effect. The legit ones should still be able to apply.

It has been shown that it has been abused in the past. And it should be dealt with. Have you a better method?

But why would one come here to do an English speaking course? Presumably they could do a course back in their country. And then apply to come here for a proper university course. We have enough non English speaking people here already.