Student visa expiring

Foreign students in the UK who are not nationals of the European Economic Area must contend with one of the toughest immigration systems in the world and an ever-changing set of rules. This article gives an overview of the options available when your UK adult student visa is expiring. If you intend to continue studying in the UK The most straightforward option is normally to extend your student visa. This is an application for “leave to remain” under the Tier 4 (adult student) category. You must meet the following requirements:

• Have been accepted onto an suitable course with a registered Tier 4 sponsor;
• Not have spent more than the maximum period permitted in the UK on a student visa (ranging from three to eight years depending on the course level);
• Meet the English language requirement;
• Meet the financial requirement (to have held a specified amount of money for a month preceding the application); and
• Not fall under the general grounds for refusal (relating to criminal convictions etc).

Further details on the eligibility criteria can be found in the Immigration Rules and official guidance (available on the UK Border Agency website). It’s vital to understand the requirements as there is very little flexibility if they are not met. If you want to work in the UK If you have a job offer from an employer who is licensed to sponsor foreign workers you may be able to extend your stay in the UK under the Tier 2 (General) immigration category. This is subject to various requirements, including a minimum proposed salary and skill level. A list of licensed Tier 2 sponsors is available on the UK Border Agency website. Alternatively, if you want to engage in business in the UK after graduating you could consider the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) category (you must have £200,000 or in some cases £50,000 available for investment); or the Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) category (you must have studied at degree level at an authorised institution that has approved your proposed business plan). If you are married to or in a long-term relationship (two years cohabitation is normally required) with a British citizen or national of the European Economic Area you might be able to make an application to remain here on that basis. There is a number of immigration categories in addition to the above that may allow you to extend your stay in the UK. It is also possible to make a “discretionary “application if you do not fall under a specific category although these are only approved in the most compelling circumstances. In all cases there are two golden rules to follow when your student visa is expiring. First, start planning well in advance. Second, use an adviser who is registered with the Law Society or the Office of the Immigration Services Commissioner (OISC). This will not guarantee that you will be able to stay in the UK but should ensure that you are aware of all the options and minimise the risk of your application being refused on a technicality.
If you need any immigration advice or are worried about the new immigration rules or need help with Sponsorship or Tier 2, Tier 4, applying for university if your college has closed down, Visa, ILR, Settlement, Citizenship, Dependant Visa or an appeal against a UK Border Agency or British Embassy refusal, or if you have been waiting for a reply from the Home Office for longer than a year, please email: immigration@londonccs.com or visit www.conceptcaresolutions.com for free immigration news updates.

Unfair family migration Rules

Habib Rahman, Chief Executive of Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) said during the coming year the organisation will focus on campaigning against the Government’s restrictions on family migration. Speaking at the JCWI’s AGM in London last night, Mr Rahman said the Immigration Rule changes, in particular the minimum £18,600 income requirement to bring in a non-EU spouse or partner, introduced by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) in July were dividing families and hitting British. Mr Rahman also referred to an article in yesterday’s Evening Standard "Tough New Visa Rules put Foreign Students off London”, where an unlikely ally Conservative London Mayor Boris Johnson called on Prime Minister David Cameron to remove students from net migration targets. Speaking in India, Johnson accused the Government of causing “unnecessary alarm” with tough immigration rules, which have already resulted in a 9% fall in student visas, expected to rise to 25% next year. Last week the outspoken London Mayor strongly criticised his own party’s target to slash net immigration, claiming that visa policies were preventing the City and universities from recruiting the brightest talent, and were “a block to growth”. One of the guest speakers at the meeting was Emma Ben Moussa, a British bride of a Moroccan husband, who has just given birth to their first child nine weeks ago. Emma tried to live in Morocco with her husband, but found the life hard and had no chance of finding well paid employment. She returned to her home in Kent this year during the middle of a complicated pregnancy, but could not return to her job as a store manager at WH Smith. The couple found themselves caught in the £18,600 trap and even if she returned to work immediately she would not be able to show 6 months payslips required to sponsor him on a spouse visa. Her husband’s prospective income cannot be taken into account or the fact that she would be able to work full time if he could be here to look after the baby. They obtained a visit visa after what Emma described as a very difficult experience dealing with the British Embassy in Casablanca, Morocco. The JCWI are currently helping the couple to stay together in the UK and have submitted an “outside the Rules” application for further leave to remain. Should this be refused, her case will almost certainly go to appeal and could end up as a test case in the High Court. The second speaker, Professor Eleonore Kofman of Middlesex University, highlighted the discriminatory nature of the new Rules, which will adversely affect 61% of women, double the rate of men, due to lower earnings. Professor Kofman noted that it was not just the arbitrary £18,600 income requirement which was splitting families. Other restrictions contained in the Rules include not allowing a partner’s prospective earnings to be taken into account and length of time needed to prove income. She said the UK was now the second hardest country to sponsor a spouse after Norway. Raza Husein QC offered some hope pointing to two upcoming cases challenging the Rules in the Upper Tribunal and High Court early next year. Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP for Islington North, said the Rule changes were rushed through by the Executive without a vote or proper Parliamentary scrutiny. He was disappointed that a “Negative Prayer” or objection laid down in Parliament was only signed by 7 MP’s. Corbyn said it was easy for the Government to be “tough” on poor migrant families and reminded us that the UK was built on immigration and would be a “wet and insular little island” without it. Referring to the London Metropolitan University’s licence revocation, which is in his constituency, he claimed that the UKBA had not acted rationally and had done spot checks on overseas students during the holidays. The meeting ended with a lively question and answer session in which Habib Rahman defended JCWI’s record of campaigning against the UKBA’s onslaught on private colleges and international students. The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) is an independent national charity which campaigns for justice in UK immigration, nationality and refugee law and policy.
If you need any immigration advice or are worried about the new immigration rules or need help with Sponsorship or Tier 2, Tier 4, applying for university if your college has closed down, Visa, ILR, Settlement, Citizenship, Dependant Visa or an appeal against a UK Border Agency or British Embassy refusal, or if you have been waiting for a reply from the Home Office for longer than a year, please email: immigration@londonccs.com or visit www.conceptcaresolutions.com for free immigration news updates.

150,000 Tier 4 student notifications of change backlog allowed thousands to overstay visas

John Vine, the Chief Inspector of immigration, admits that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) has a backlog of 150,000 ‘notifications about changes in Tier 4 students circumstances’ sent to them by colleges and universities, which means they do not know who has left the country and who has overstayed their visas. The latest UKBA fiasco, reveled in the latest Chief Inspector’s report this week, has allowed thousands of overseas students to potentially overstay in Britain when they should have had their visas curtailed. Mr Vine, has confirmed that at the time of his inspection in May there was a backlog of over 150,000 notifications about changes in students' circumstances, which includes discontinuing studies, failing to enrol on their courses or breaching the conditions of their visas. In John Vine’s report, published this week, Vine says: "As a result, there could potentially be thousands of migrants in the UK who were not complying with the conditions of their visa and whose leave should have been curtailed by the agency but had not been. "One senior manager informed us that at the time of the inspection there were potentially 26,000 students whose leave should have been curtailed and who should have had enforcement action taken against them." The backlog of notifications about changes in the circumstances of overseas students dates back to March 2009 when Tier 4 of the five tier points based system was launched. The problem with Tier 4 is that although it was supposed to be a fully computerised system, it was actually launched as a paper based manual system. Many commentators say ill-prepared points system has ended in tears. Visas were dished out all too easily and non-compliant students reported by the colleges were allowed to overstay their visas. Private colleges have long been aware that change of circumstance reports, such as a student dropping out of a course, sent to the UKBA are rarely even acknowledged let alone acted upon. Now the UKBA is spending millions of pounds of tax payers money employing private companies to track them down – shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Why didn’t the UKBA deal with them when they had their addresses at the time they were reported? Meanwhile UKBA bosses pay themselves massive bonuses, which the Chairman of Home Affairs Select Committee Keith Vaz MP says should be repaid following reports that UKBA officers misled Parliament over another backlog of asylum cases. The UKBA launched ‘Operation Mayapple’ (which sounds like something out of a Bond movie) last May to “identify” student who could still be in the UK and not complying with their Tier 4 visa conditions. ‘Operation Rosehip’ was launched by the at the same time to target students who should have left Britain. As a result 23,000 students had been ordered to comply with their student visas or face enforcement action. Responding to the report, the Immigration Minister, Mark Harper, said: "We are the first government to tackle the historically high levels of abuse in the student visa system. We have toughened the rules to ensure that genuine students are not taken advantage of by organisations looking to sell immigration not education. "At the same time, we have a great offer for the brightest and best international talent who want to study at our world class institutions." Labour's Shadow Immigration Minister, Chris Bryant, said this is yet another damning report about the UKBA and a scandalous situation. Bryant conveniently failed to mention that Labour introduced the points based system and were in power when the backlog of overstayers built up. Cynthia Barker of immigration advisers Concept Care Solutions has helped over-staying students who were arrested and detained pending removal orders. One Nigerian university student client, who had never been in trouble, spent 80 days detained in prison conditions, refused bail, sharing cells with convicted criminals and terror suspects. She said: “Young students from good families are intimidated by the experience of being detained and feel pressured into leaving voluntarily or are scared to seek legal advice. “Some clients leave voluntarily when they had a right to appeal or stay in the UK, for instance because they are in a relationship and have children. “Visa overstayers can avoid removal if they have an EEA partner. In this case we managed to pull him off a deportation flight ten minutes before take off because he was in a genuine relationship, and therefore a human right to a family life under article 8, with his Eastern European girlfriend.” If you have overstayed your visa or need any immigration advice or are worried about the new immigration rules or need help with Sponsorship or Tier 2, Tier 4, applying for university if your college has closed down, Visa, ILR, Settlement, Citizenship, Dependent Visa or an appeal against a UK Border Agency or British Embassy refusal, or if you have been waiting for a reply from the Home Office for longer than a year, please email immigration@londonccs.com or visit http://conceptcaresolutions.com/page.php?id=15

Five hundred private colleges closed by UKBA

The UK Border Agency has closed down an estimated 500 so called “bogus” colleges in just 18 months, leaving thousands of overseas students stranded, broke and wondering what on earth they have done to deserve this sort of treatment.




If each of those 500 colleges had just 200 students paying fees of around £5000 per head, that means 100,000 innocent students could have lost up to £500 million in fees when the colleges went out of business.



Furthermore, Britain loses £500,000,000 of fees the following year, the year after that and for all the subsequent years the colleges would have been trading. Then there's the cost of thousands of staff losing jobs at a time when the country needs to get people back into work to come out of recession.



The loss of VAT alone amounts to £100 million a year, which could have gone towards paying off Labour's trillion pound national debt, currently costing the taxpayer millions a day in interest payments.



Perhaps we should ask the Home Office, while they pat themselves on the back, who is going to replace the lost tax revenues?



Despite the news, the university sector is insisting that for “genuine and legitimate students”, Britain is still an attractive place to study.



Is that strictly correct? A private college owner who spoke to Immigration Matters today claims that up to 80% of student visas are being refused in 5 countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nigeria.



He complained that if their 'refusal rate' goes above 20% (something over which they have no control) they could lose their Highly Trusted Status (HTS).



Recently, one of his Pakistani candidates was refused a Tier 4 student visa, following a short interview behind plate glass, on the basis that the Entry Clearance Officer (ECO) was "not satisfied" that his English was good enough to complete the course.



The same student has an IELTS certificate with an overall band pass mark of 6.5, which is above the level required for most degree level courses and to satisfy visa requirements!



The right of appeal against a student visa refusal was removed when the points based system was introduced in 2009 because, the Home Office stated, decisions on student visas were going to be made on the basis of a points score and not on the subjective views of ECO's.



Chinese students still make up the largest number of overseas students in Britain. India, which has seen large numbers of students shun British colleges and universities, has the second highest number of non-EU students in the UK.



Universities UK President of and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Bristol, Professor Eric Thomas, acknowledged that a large number of colleges had been closed down over the last year and a half but highlighted that there is no cap (as there is for Tier 2 working visas) on the numbers of international Tier 4 students coming to the country.



"The UK Border Agency has closed 500 colleges in the UK within the last 18 months. They have ceased to trade," Thomas said.



However, he said that "despite some recent high-profile negative coverage of the UK's student visa system, the reality is that the UK welcomes genuine international students".



He added that international students make a fundamental contribution to university life and international demand for places remains strong. Besides, plenty of post-study work opportunities also continue to exist, he claimed.



But many students from countries like India see a different reality to Professor Thomas. Last month, the UK Border Agency revoked the government owned London Metropolitan University's (LMU) Tier 4 licence to sponsor non-EU students, a decision that affected thousands of students including a large number of Indians.



Students are still reeling from the draconian decision, which has been challenged in the High Court and, like many private college suspensions, is the subject of a judicial review.



Joanna Newman, Director of the UK Higher Education International Unit (IU) reports that there was a decrease in the number of students registered to study in the UK following a number of damaging newspaper reports. She said that "abuse is less than 2 per cent and it is incumbent on the Universities to verify the genuineness of students".



"There were as many as 39,090 Indian students in 2010/11 as against 67,325 Chinese students. We have close relations with the Indian Government. We are not only working with the Indian Government but collaborating with various Universities," she said.



Critics would argue that it’s not the Indian Government she needs to be “working with”. Try the UK Border Agency!



She added that there has been a number of changes to the system but “legitimate students” can still get a student visa if they meet the UK Border Agency's requirements.



"Post-study work is still an option for international students once they graduate, through a new category. No further changes to the UK immigration system are planned," she said.



Well, not this month at least. In any case, the damage has been done.



Not sure which planet these two commentators are living on? The Post Study Work Visa was abolished this year and the “new category” is simply a part of the Tier 2 working visa structure which involves finding a suitable sponsoring employer.



In spite of the UK Border Agency’s clampdowns on colleges and harsh changes to the Tier 4 student visa rules, the UK has for the moment managed to hang on to its position as a leading study destination, second only to the USA.



The top universities are still ranked among the world's leading research institutions, as measured by total publications and citations.



Yesterday, the Higher Education Commission called for an urgent policy review on postgraduate students, which they say are the key to Britain’s continued success in an increasingly competitive, globalised world.



Policymakers are creating an environment of slow growth in UK jobs, closure of post study work visa (PSW) and clampdowns on international students and colleges, which is forcing postgraduates to take their skills to countries like Canada and Australia.



The Russell Group, which represents elite universities has warned that tougher visa rules are already leading to a drop in international applicants.



Universities will see a drop in in-country applicants fed through from private colleges.



It should be noted that just because a college closes down, it does not necessarily follow that it is 'bogus'. Like any other business, colleges close for a variety of reasons, most of which are financial.



Private colleges have struggled to recruit students following discriminatory changes to the Immigration Rules last year banning all work and family dependants for their students.



Some Tier 4 college owners have simply given up trying to jump through yet more hoops and meet ever higher requirements, a process which government owned universities have not had to go through. A number are voting with their feet and wallets by setting up colleges in other countries which welcome their investment.



More immigration stories:



UK overseas student market in danger of collapse after constant immigration crackdowns



High Court grants London Met University temporary injunction against licence revocation giving overseas students a stay of execution



London Metropolitan University ask High Court to block Tier 4 licence revocation



London Met student visa licence remains ‘revoked’ say UK Border Agency



UK University applicants drops 8.7% but non-EU students increase, UCAS figures reveal



New Tier 4 student visa rules now in force



Student visa crackdown damaging our reputation abroad, Universities UK warns



MORE CHALLENGES FOR TIER 4 STUDENTS AS ‘3-YEAR RULE’ APPLIED



HIGHLY TRUSTED PRIVATE COLLEGE STUDENTS DO NOT HAVE THE SAME RIGHT TO WORK AS GOVERNMENT SPONSORED INSTITUTIONS



Post Study Work Visa to be abolished April 2012 as part of student visa clampdown



UK university setting up a memorial scholarship in memory of murdered Indian student



Can family dependants of Tier 4 Students work while studying in the UK?



Free service launched to help overseas students study at UK Universities



If you need any immigration advice or are worried about the new immigration rules or need help with Sponsorship or Tier 2 working visa, Tier 4, applying for university if your college has closed down, Visa, ILR/Settlement, Citizenship, Dependant Visa or an Appeal against a refusal, or if you have been waiting for a reply from the Home Office for longer than a year, please email:



info@immigrationmatters.co.uk or visit www.immigrationmatters.co.uk for free immigration news updates.



Majestic College offer special packages for EU students for UK work study programmes. They also have a number of employers looking for staff right now and are willing to employ Bulgarians and Romanians.



For more information call Joanna on 0208 207 1020 info@majesticcollege.org



UK NARIC ASSESSMENT



It doesn’t matter where you come from – UK, Europe or anywhere else in the world, it is important to ensure that your qualifications are recognised. In the UK there is a national agency that carries out this service, they are called UK NARIC.

Are postgraduate student policies damaging UK?

The Higher Education Commission has called for an urgent policy review on postgraduate students, which they say are the key to Britain’s continued success in an increasingly competitive, globalised world.




Why then are policymakers creating an environment – slow growth in UK jobs, closure of post study work visa (PSW) and clampdowns on international students and colleges - which is forcing postgraduates to take their skills elsewhere?



The report, published today by the Higher Education Commission highlights a range of issues, such as increasing fees, inactive banks and negative changes to UK Immigration that may ‘inflict significant damage on the health of the postgraduate sector’.



In addition rising tuition fees have hit Higher Education, especially the postgraduate sector where there are no state-backed student loans as there are for undergraduates. The continued reluctance of the banks to lend money, despite massive taxpayer input, has made the situation worse.



Britain is the “education outsourcing capital of the world”, the report states, but warns that more emphasis is needed on up-skilling of the UK population.



Sir Peter Lampl, Chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: "We must make the most of all our talents, and that is no less important in postgraduate studies which are now dominated by overseas students.



“It is vital that our brightest graduates are not priced out of postgraduate study. This is why the Sutton Trust has commissioned a new study on social mobility, which includes looking at access to postgraduate courses”



British students and workers must compete with the brightest and best from around the world, just as footballers have to fight for their place amongst the best international talent. However, the end result is the most exciting football league on the planet.



Whilst international Tier 4 students are vital in creating and retaining economic ties with other countries, some are concerned that many courses in universities are sustained by and reliant almost entirely on international students.



The government place an “annual limit on the number of non-EU economic migrants admitted into the UK to live and work” which means that these courses and even universities may have close causing irreparable damage to “Britain’s research capacity”.



The report adds that the current postgraduate study policy is “out of step with Britain’s ambition to be the leading knowledge-based economy of the world, and also out of step with other countries that the UK is currently competing with”.



This damaging situation will worsen whilst students are including in government targets to more than halve net migration.



Earlier this month, the Russell Group warned that tougher visa rules are leading to a drop in international applicants.



As predicted by Immigration Matters, international students are spurning the UK’s most prestigious universities as a direct result of UK Border Agency's relentless immigration crackdowns.



UK universities in the Russell Group – which represents 24 top ‘red brick’ institutions, such as Oxford and Cambridge – are seeing a drop of up to 30 per cent in applications from Indian students for some courses.



In conclusion, the report advises policymakers to ‘take a holistic view of the English education system’, and calls on the ministers to “immediately establish a taskforce to examine the feasibility of a postgraduate student loan scheme and develop policy options, reporting by December 2013”.



A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spokeswoman said: "We recognise that there are some concerns in the sector about postgraduate provision. We have asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England to monitor and review participation in postgraduate study as part of a longer term assessment of the impact of the funding changes."



It's a bit like trying to add an urgently needed runway at London Heathrow, the busiest international airport in the world.



Another inquiry, another report, and another day at the office for overpaid civil servants and ministers scratching their backsides and playing with figures but taking no action. By the time the current anti-immigration policies are reversed, the UK’s £40 billion international under graduate and post graduate student market will be in tatters.



See also:



UK overseas student market in danger of collapse after constant immigration crackdowns



High Court grants London Met University temporary injunction against licence revocation giving overseas students a stay of execution



London Metropolitan University ask High Court to block Tier 4 licence revocation



London Met student visa licence remains ‘revoked’ say UK Border Agency



UK University applicants drops 8.7% but non-EU students increase, UCAS figures reveal



New Tier 4 student visa rules now in force



Student visa crackdown damaging our reputation abroad, Universities UK warns



MORE CHALLENGES FOR TIER 4 STUDENTS AS ‘3-YEAR RULE’ APPLIED



HIGHLY TRUSTED PRIVATE COLLEGE STUDENTS DO NOT HAVE THE SAME RIGHT TO WORK AS GOVERNMENT SPONSORED INSTITUTIONS



Post Study Work Visa to be abolished April 2012 as part of student visa clampdown



UK university setting up a memorial scholarship in memory of murdered Indian student



Can family dependants of Tier 4 Students work while studying in the UK?



Free service launched to help overseas students study at UK Universities



If you need any immigration advice or are worried about the new immigration rules or need help with Sponsorship or Tier 2 working visa, Tier 4, applying for university if your college has closed down, Visa, ILR/Settlement, Citizenship, Dependant Visa or an Appeal against a refusal, or if you have been waiting for a reply from the Home Office for longer than a year, please email:



info@immigrationmatters.co.uk or visit www.immigrationmatters.co.uk for free immigration news updates.



Majestic College offer special packages for EU students for UK work study programmes. They also have a number of employers looking for staff right now and are willing to employ Bulgarians and Romanians.



For more information call Joanna on 0208 207 1020 info@majesticcollege.org



UK NARIC ASSESSMENT



It doesn’t matter where you come from – UK, Europe or anywhere else in the world, it is important to ensure that your qualifications are recognised. In the UK there is a national agency that carries out this service, they are called UK NARIC.

2012 March Majestic College Graduation.wmv