Immigration Matters

Monday, December 22, 2014

Home Office plans to send international students back home after spending up to £50000 obtaining a UK degree

The Sunday Times has leaked Home Office plans to force overseas students – who can spend as much as £50000 in course fees and living costs completing a UK degree at a minor university - to return to their home country after their courses finish before applying for a visa extension.

The latest Government plan to reduce net migration, reportedly being considered by the Home Secretary Theresa May, will be seen by international students, who bring in billions of pounds to the UK, as another slap in the face.

The news is bound to drive yet more of bright young people to the more student friendly visa regimes of Australia, Canada and other EU countries such as Germany.

Under May’s proposals, students from non-European countries would have to return home and apply for a work visa if they wanted to continue to live in the UK after graduation.

This means that if an employer wanted to sponsor a Tier 4 student visa graduate under a Tier 2 working visa, the candidate would have to travel back home to apply for another visa to re-enter the UK, a process which could take several months.

The report in The Sunday Times said Mrs May wants a future Conservative government to "move towards zero net student migration" by sending home those who come to Britain on student visas.

A “source” close to the Home Secretary told the newspaper: "Making sure immigrants leave Britain at the end of their visa is as important a part of running a fair and efficient immigration system as controlling who comes here in the first place.

"Theresa is pressing for the next Conservative manifesto to contain a policy that will make sure that anybody coming here on a student visa will have to leave the country in order to apply for a new visa of any kind.

"She wants to make the colleges and universities that sponsor foreign students responsible for ensuring their departure.

"She wants to be able to fine colleges and universities with low departure rates and deprive the worst of them of their right to sponsor foreign students."

At present under the current Immigration Rules, the majority of graduate students are able to switch to a Tier 2 work visa whilst the UK. They also have options to apply for further leave to remain, for instance by switching to a Tier 1 or Entrepreneur visa.

The latest move will further erode the available options for graduate to remain in the UK. The previous Post Study Work (PSW), which allowed graduates to remain in the UK for up to 2 years in order to find an employer, was abolished along with other attractive features which helped make the UK a leading destination for fee paying students.

The coalition Liberal Democrat Business Secretary Vince Cable, who holds responsibility for universities has previously warned about the anti-immigration message being sent out around the world which is putting off students from countries like India from attending UK universities.

A senior Lib Dem source said her plan made "zero economic sense" and could deprive the UK of highly-skilled graduates.

"Such a blunt instrument would not get our support," the source said.

"The idea that you have people from abroad studying in this country and they become engineers or scientists of huge practical value to the economy, and rather than have them stay here you immediately turf them out makes zero economic sense."

Whilst the proposals have yet to become law, any foreign student currently studying in the UK or considering coming to the UK to study at a British university will be affected by the new visa rules upon graduation. In other words, even if they idea is never followed through the damage has been done and UK universities will have lost international students and much needed fees.

Friday, December 19, 2014

Immigration Matters: Immigration Information for Croatians Coming to th...

Immigration Matters: Immigration Information for Croatians Coming to th...: Under the EU Accession of Croatia Immigration and Worker Authorisiation Rules, the UK Home Office has imposed a 7 year work or full free mov...

Immigration Matters: Immigration Information for Croatians Coming to th...

Immigration Rules for Croatians Coming to the UK to Work, Study or Visit

Under the EU Accession of Croatia Immigration and Worker Authorisiation Rules, the UK Home Office has imposed a 7 year work or full free movement of labour restriction on Croatian nationals coming to live in the UK.

Croatian nationals may stay in the UK for up to 90 days before exercise their 'free movement' rights to stay under a number of immigration categories, for instance, as a worker, student or self sufficient person.

Croatians (like Romanians and Bulgarians before them) require Accession Worker Authorisation to work in the UK. Permission to work is can come in various forms such as Work Permits (Purple Registration Cards), Highly Skilled worker cards, Au Pairs and student "Yellow Card", which allow work and study when taking a vocational (work based) training course in the UK.

Purple Cards are a type of work permit issued by the Home Office to workers in jobs at NQF (National Qualifications Framework) level 4 and above. For example, you will get a Purple Card for a qualified nursing job in an NHS hospital, but not as a care worker or HCA.

The job must also be on the National Shortage Occupations list or meet the Resident Labour Market test - in other words, the employer cannot find a suitable resident worker or EU/EEA national to fill the job vacancy.

The employer should be licensed under Tier 2 of the points based system and must apply for your Purple Registration Certificate before you come to the UK.

You should be able to demonstrate a level of English language at B1 or above on the Council of Europe's Common European Framework for Language Learning (CEFL), although this requirement would appear to run against EU regulations?

Croatian nationals can come to the UK to set up a business and work on a self-employed basis. You do not need a yellow card to set up a business under the free movement regulations, but you should register the business with the UK tax authority (HMRC) and demonstrate that you are running a genuine business.

Once a Croatian has been living in the UK legally for 12 months they can normally apply for a Blue Registration Card, which gives them rights to remain and work in the UK.

Like Romanians and Bulgarians, many Croatians are choosing to migrate here as a student to study and work in the UK.

Before applying for a student yellow card, students must register on an approved course (which will normally be chargeable by monthly installments) and take out comprehensive sickness insurance. A European insurance health card 'EHIC' if the stay in temporary.

London based Concept Care Solutions and training provider London Cactus College have combined to offer paid work placements in care and approved vocational courses to Croatian nationals who want to work and study in the UK.

Assistance is also offered with Yellow and Blue Card immigration paperwork, as well as finding accommodation and getting settled in London.

Further information on the immigration process can be found on the Home Office UK Visas and Immigration website or email me if you would like to work in the UK.

Immigration Matters: UK visa overstayers still here despite £30 million...

Immigration Matters: UK visa overstayers still here despite £30 million...: A new immigration report has slammed the Government and Home Office for failing to find and deport thousands of foreign nationals overstayi...

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Diary of an Immigration Adviser: Free Apprenticeship Courses To Fill UK Job Vacanci...

Diary of an Immigration Adviser: Free Apprenticeship Courses To Fill UK Job Vacanci...: Cynthia Barker writes...Non-stop with immigration work here at Concept Care! Last week was our busiest week ever for visa appeal cases as th...

Diary of an Immigration Adviser: Don't Give Up and Leave The UK, Appeal For Your Hu...

Diary of an Immigration Adviser: Don't Give Up and Leave The UK, Appeal For Your Hu...: Cynthia Barker writes...another mad day, cases to finish and deadlines to meet before Home Office changes or fee hikes! Following my recen...

Immigration Matters: No more Family Permit visas for non-EU family memb...

Immigration Matters: No more Family Permit visas for non-EU family memb...: European Union judges at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have ruled the UK Home Office cannot prevent non-EU family members entering th...

Immigration Matters: UK visa overstayers still here despite £30 million...

Immigration Matters: UK visa overstayers still here despite £30 million...: A new report has slammed the Government and Home Office for failing to find and deport thousands of foreign nationals overstaying and livin...

UK visa overstayers still here despite £30 million Home Office illegal immigration crackdown

A new immigration report has slammed the Government and Home Office for failing to find and deport thousands of foreign nationals overstaying and living illegally in the UK.

The Home Office has been criticised for failing to crack down on the number of foreign nationals who have overstayed their visas in the UK.

The inspector of borders and immigration John Vine said the Government had failed to reduce the number of 'overstayers' despite a flagship Home Office scheme costing millions of pounds designed to reduce the number of illegal immigrants in the UK.

Mr Vine said the ‘immigration refusal pool’, or the numberof foreign nationals refused leave to remain in the UK after 2008, was 174,057 in June 2012.

That visa refusal figure was relatively unchanged in the same period this year and remained at 173,562.

Mr Vine said:

"Any failure to take action against foreign nationals who overstay their permission to be in the UK has the potential to undermine public confidence in immigration control."

The Home Office awarded a multi-million pound contract to outsourcing firm Capita in 2012 to review and, where possible, close the records of foreign nationals in the migration refusal pool.

But according to Mr Vine, Capita has not only failed to deliver on the Government's ambition to crack down on illegal 'overstayers' it has also overstated its successes.

The report highlights a sample of 57 migrant records closed by Capita after stating that the overstayer had left the country. Inspectors found that 16 – around one quarter - had been ‘closed in error’.

This would amount to 1,140 records in 2013/14, 25% of the 4,080 people Capita reported to have left the UK that year, may still be illegally staying in the country.

"I was disappointed to find a high level of inaccuracy in the classification of MRP records, with more than a quarter of departures in my sample being incorrectly recorded," Mr Vine added.

"Considerable improvements in the Home Office's capability to monitor, progress, and prioritise the immigration enforcement caseload will be needed to deliver its strategy for reducing the level of irregular migration."

Immigration and Security Minister James Brokenshire defended the Home Office:

"We inherited an immigration system in complete disarray, which turned a blind eye to hundreds of thousands of people with no right to be here, and made no attempt to remove them or even to properly identify the scale of the problem.

"Under the UK Border Agency there was no systematic plan to deal with illegal migrants other than failed asylum seekers and foreign criminals. We scrapped the failing UK Border Agency and brought its work back under the control of ministers partly in order to sort out that mess."

The Government has introduced a new Immigration Act, which cuts the number of human rights type visa appeals blocking the deportation of an illegal immigrant from 17 to 4

Immigration specialist Cynthia Barker said that the problem of visa overstayers will take years to solve:

"The UK still has no proper system to count people in and out of its borders, so nobody really knows how many overstayers and illegal immigrants there are in the UK.

"Research by the think tank ippr, suggests that the illegal immigration figure is at least 500,000, which it estimates would take £5 billion and 20 years to deport and remove all of the overstayers.

"The longer an illegal migrants stays in the UK the more chance they have of staying, for instance due to right to a family life under article 8 or through a long stay concession or amnesty."

The failure of the campaign to remove overstaying migrants and students included the ‘go home’ vans and Capita’s bungled 40,000 text messages to so-called illegal immigrants and visa overstayers, asking them to leave the UK. Many of the messages were sent in error to British citizens.

Immigration Matters: No more Family Permit visas for non-EU family memb...

No more Family Permit visas for non-EU family members, European Court Judges rule against UK Home Office

European Union judges at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) have ruled the UK Home Office cannot prevent non-EU family members entering the country without a travel permit as long as they are settled in another EU country.

The Luxembourg based ECJ ruling means that EU citizens or EEA nationals will be able to bring their non-EU national family members into the UK without applying for a Family Permit visa.

The UK government has effectively been ordered by European judges to change its own Immigration Rules by European Union judges following the ECJ decision on a controversial case allowing Britons to enter the UK with their foreign relatives.

The controversial case involves a Spain-based dual British and Irish national Sean McCarthy and his Colombian wife. The couple argued she should be able to travel to the UK to see her British family without applying for a visa or travel permit.

McCarthy, lives and works in Spain with his Colombian wife Patricia McCarthy Rodriguez, lodged a legal action against the Home Office. The couple argued that Rodriguez should be free to travel to the UK with her British family without having to obtain a UK visa on the basis that she holds an EU residence card issued by the Spanish government.

The Home Office had forced her to obtain a "family permit" visa every six months if she wanted to enter UK borders.

But the ECJ ruled in the McCarthys' favour stating that freedom of movement rules do not allow measures which prevent family members from entering a member state without a visa.

The court ruling stated: "Where a family member of an EU citizen who has exercised his right of freedom of movement is in a situation such as that of Ms McCarthy Rodriguez, that family member is not subject to the requirement to obtain a visa or an equivalent requirement in order to be able to enter the territory of that EU citizen’s member state of origin."

The McCarthy’s two young children are both British citizens, yet their mother had to travel from the family's home in Marbella to the British Embassy in Madrid to be fingerprinted and complete detailed application forms every time she wanted to travel to the UK. Her lawyers claimed that the expensive and cumbersome process took several weeks to complete.

The Home Office had brought in its own visa regime due to concerns that other EU member states' residence cards fell short of international security standards and could lead to an abuse of EU freedom of movement rules.

A UK Government spokesman said: "The UK is disappointed with the judgment in this case.

"It is right to tackle fraud and the abuse of free movement rights.

"As the case is still to return to the UK's High Court for a final judgment, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time."

Free movement rules have been at loggerheads with UK Immigration laws since the EU expansion into Eastern Europe when millions of Poles, Romanians and Lithuanians have settled in the UK.

However, Britain has imposed 7 year restrictions on newest EU member citizens of Croatia from working in the UK without a work permit or yellow card.

In a recent speech, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron, said he would introduce tough new laws to restrict the wave of EU citizens entering Britain, as well as ending EU migrants right to claim welfare benefits for the first four years after arriving in the country.

There are other anomalies in the UK and EEA rules which work to the disadvantage British citizens wishing to bring their spouse or unmarried partner into the UK. Unlike EEA nationals or Britons living within the EEA their partners must pass the Home Office tests on English language and minimum income requirements, which often force families to live apart.

The right wing UKIP party condemned the latest snub to Britain saying: "The ECJ, like every other EU institution, is determined that Britain will never take back control of its borders."

MEP and spokesman on immigration Steven Woolfe said:

"Britain will be forced to recognise residence permits issued by any EU member state, even though the system of permits is wide open to abuse and fraud.

"This ruling extends the so-called 'right to free movement' to millions of people from anywhere in the world who don't have citizenship of any country of the EU.

"This is yet more proof that Britain can never take back control of its borders as long as it remains in the European Union.”

Speaking to the BBC, Mr McCarthy said he was "overjoyed" by the ruling:

"As a British national I had expected my country to play by the rules, and now the court has finally forced the UK to respect British and European citizens' free movement rights."

There are many non-EU nationals, such as Filipino care workers and domestics, who have been living in EU countries like Spain, Italy and Greece for over 10 years as residents, but are unfairly denied full citizenship.

In another case this month the court ruled that gay and lesbian asylum seekers must not be asked to prove they are homosexual in order to stay in Britain.

Judges ruled that asking refugees detailed questions about their sexual habits in order to establish whether they are at risk of persecution at home is a breach of their fundamental human right to a private life.

Friday, December 12, 2014

Immigration Matters: UKIP Leader Nigel Farage blames immigration on mot...

Immigration Matters: UKIP Leader Nigel Farage blames immigration on mot...: UKIP Leader Nigel Farage blamed UK immigrants for a traffic jam, which resulted in him being unable to attend a party event in Wales on Fri...

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage blames immigration on motorway traffic jam

UKIP Leader Nigel Farage blamed UK immigrants for a traffic jam, which resulted in him being unable to attend a party event in Wales on Friday.

His astonishing statement was made to BBC Wales after he missed a UKIP convention in Port Talbot, which he said was due to Britain’s high levels of immigration causing congestion on the M4 motorway.

Over 100 UKIP members had coughed up £25 each to attend the event featuring their charismatic leader. But Farage failed to arrive in time, telling BBC's Sunday Politics Wales, "It took me six hours and 15 minutes to get here - it should have taken three-and-a-half to four.

"That is nothing to do with professionalism, what it does have to do with is a population that is going through the roof chiefly because of open-door immigration and the fact that the M4 is not as navigable as it used to be."

Labour's Shadow Welsh Secretary Owen Smith said his remarks were "absurd".

“Remarks like these are what makes Farage so dangerous.

"It is clearly absurd to suggest heavy traffic on the M4 is caused by immigration, but through the laughter at his silly comments you can hear UKIP's dog-whistle politics of division."

UKIP has gained popularity with voters in recent years, largely built on anti-immigration and anti-EU rhetoric. Farage has called for strict controls on immigration, especially from the EU, which would effectively mean Britain pulling out of the European Union. Some in the party have even suggested sending home EU nationals!

We have heard of politicians blaming immigrants for a country’s economic woes, for instance Adolph Hitler, but never for a traffic jam on a busy motorway.

Let's not forget that our NHS (National Health Service) would not be able to run without foreign Doctors, Nurses and Care Workers, which is why hospitals are now recruiting Nurses in Spain, Ireland, Croatia and The Philippines for UK job vacancies.

The MEP (Member of European Parliament) also forgets that Irish immigrants helped build Britain's motorways!

Anyway, who were these so-called immigrants clogging up the M4 road to Wales? Maybe English people emigrating to Wales?

If he wanted to be sure of getting there on time he could have taken the train? Politicians are always trying to force us to use over crowded public transport, while they use taxis and chauffeur driven cars.

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Immigration Matters: NMC Test of Competence for International Nurses wh...

Immigration Matters: NMC Test of Competence for International Nurses wh...: Good news for international nurses who want to work in the UK as a nurse or midwife. The University of Northampton's School of Health h...

NMC Test of Competence for International Nurses who want to work in the UK starts at University of Northampton

Good news for international nurses who want to work in the UK as a nurse or midwife. The University of Northampton's School of Health has successfully started delivery the new 'Test of Competence' on 17 November, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has confirmed.

The new competency test for non-EU nurses and midwives replaces the old Overseas Nurses Programme (ONP) and will fast-track the process for internationally trained nurses and midwives seeking to work in the UK as well as ensuring candidates are assessed robustly in a standardised way.

The new assessment process is formed of two parts starting with a test in the candidates own country:

multiple choice computer-based exam, which candidates sit at test centres around the world
practical clinical examination delivered at the University of Northampton in the UK

The NMC, the official professional body which regulates nursing in the UK, said they “want to ensure that all people joining the Nursing and Midwifery Council's register are meeting the UK standards”.

Jackie Smith, NMC Chief Executive and Registrar, said:

“Each year, hundreds of nurses and midwives who trained outside Europe apply to practise in the UK.

"As a responsible regulator, we need to make sure that they are able to demonstrate clinical and theoretical knowledge as well as the professional values that will ensure patient-centred, compassionate care.

"This test will put candidates through scenarios that they may find in the UK’s health services."

Although we have not seen the results of the changes, the competence-based testing system for international nurses should be more straightforward than the previous cumbersome and expensive ONP, which often hindered hospitals and care homes from recruiting overseas nurses. The simple two-part process will do away with the subjective 3-6 months of adaptation and supervision and help hospital Trusts employers fill thousands of UK NHS nurse job vacancies they are unable to fill within the UK or EU.

Nurses union RCN said there are around 20,000 nursing job vacancies in the UK. With NHS hospitals unable to recruit enough nurses in Spain and Portugal, they are once again offering Tier 2 working visa sponsorship for non-EU overseas nurses and those who are on Tier 4 students in the UK. Student Visa holders are allowed to switch to Tier 2 work permits whilst in the UK.

Going through the initial NMC registration process and obtaining a PRN letter can take several weeks, if not months, so if you are serious about coming to work in the UK you should get started as soon as possible. NHS hospital employers going out to countries like India or the Philippines will not want to wait around for 3-6 months while you sit an IELTS test and apply for the your NMC if they have candidates who are already in process. English tests are required for most of the English speaking countries - Australia, NZ, Canada - likely to need more nurses, so get studying!

Non-EU nurses and midwives still have to pass an IELTS English test at an overall band score of 7.00 in order to register with the NMC - and have at least 1 year's clinical experience in a hospital (private nursing or 'company' nurse will normally not be sufficient for the NMC). For full details on the new registration process and working in the UK for non-EU trained nurses or midwives, visit the NMC website or email me your CV if you are interested in migrating to and working in the UK as a nurse.

Tuesday, June 03, 2014

Diary of an Immigration Adviser: Don't Give Up and Leave The UK, Appeal For Your Hu...

Immigration Matters: UK International Nurse Recruitment Set To Take Off...

Immigration Matters: UK International Nurse Recruitment Set To Take Off...: Concept Care Solutions appointed to LPP Lot 5 Collaborative Framework for NHS International Nurse Recruitment (via PRWeb ) Concept Care...

UK International Nurse Recruitment Set To Take Off As Concept Care Solutions Are Appointed to NHS LPP Framework

Concept Care Solutions appointed to LPP Lot 5 Collaborative Framework for NHS International Nurse Recruitment (via PRWeb)

Concept Care Solutions has been appointed onto the LPP 'Lot 5 Framework' suppliers list to recruit international nurses for NHS Trusts. (PRWEB UK) 3 June 2014 Concept Care Solutions has been appointed onto the LPP 'Lot 5 Framework' suppliers list to…

Immigration Matters: Earn While You Learn with an NVQ QCF Vocational Qu...

Immigration Matters: Earn While You Learn with an NVQ QCF Vocational Qu...: NVQ’s or National Vocational Qualifications are work-related, competence-based qualifications introduced to train people in the workplace. T...

Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Immigration Matters: Immigration Rules are changing all the time so old...

Immigration Matters: Immigration Rules are changing all the time so old...: I have been writing my immigration blogs since 2005 and in that time there have been monumental changes to UK Immigration Rules: points base...

Immigration Rules are changing all the time so old blog posts are out of date

I have been writing my immigration blogs since 2005 and in that time there have been monumental changes to UK Immigration Rules: points based system, Home Office split and UKBA formed then reverted back to Home Office, student visas encouraged then reigned in, Conservative government policy to slash immigration, work permits cutback, family migration, EU expansion, English language tests...to name but a few!

You name it, and the Home Office has changed it! UK immigration is a pale imitation to what is was when I started Immigration Matters. At that time, the labour government were encouraging immigration and expanding managed schemes to work, invest or study in the UK.

Fast forward almost 10 years and work permits are only issued to highly paid workers, international students are choosing other countries as the UK is no longer their first choice and families are being torn apart by draconian minimum income rules.

Anti-immigration party, UKIP, are breathing down Prime Minister's neck and have put immigration and the EU firmly on the political agenda ahead of the 2015 election.

EU and EEA immigration has expanded out of all expectation with millions of eastern Europeans settling in the UK, largely at the expense of non-EU migrants.

For the first time in years, the public has turned against immigration and most would like to see it frozen until the government has put in more infrastructure to cope with the population increase.

Will things swing back the other way? In the short term, no. However, these things are cyclical and with NHS hospitals and care providers suffering huge staff shortages, something has to give.

In the meantime, if you read any of my old blogs please take the time to check that the information is still current. The chances are it will be out of date. Even as I write there is yet another Immigration Bill going through Parliament to further restrict the rights of migrants and reduce human rights appeals.

If you need immigration advice or have overstayed your visa, email immigration@londonccs.com or visit http://conceptcaresolutions.com/page.php?id=15

Thursday, November 29, 2012

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

Friday, October 26, 2012

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.

Monday, October 15, 2012

2012 March Majestic College Graduation.wmv

Sunday, November 13, 2011

UK Border Agency issues new policy guidance on age 21 marriage visas following Quila and Bibi judgement

Following the recent Supreme Court judgment in the case of Quila and Bibi v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2011] UKSC 45, the UK Border Agency has today announced new policy guidance for marriage visas, reinstating the minimum age to 18.

The Quila and Bibi case successfully challenged the requirement under paragraph 277 of the Immigration Rules for both foreign spouses and their sponsors in the UK to meet a minimum age of 21 before the foreign spouse could be granted a visa to enter or remain as a spouse or partner.

Paragraph 277 (along with other paragraphs of the Immigration Rules) was amended on 27 November 2008 to raise the minimum age from 18 to 21.

The UK Border Agency said:

‘The Supreme Court has ruled that, whilst they recognised that the Secretary of State was pursuing a legitimate and rational aim of seeking to address forced marriage, the change to the rule (increasing the minimum marriage visa age from 18 to 21) disproportionately interfered with the Article 8 rights of those who were in genuine marriages.’

The guidance affects applicants whose ‘applications for entry clearance or leave as a fiancé(e), proposed civil partner, spouse, civil partner, unmarried partner or same-sex partner were refused under paragraphs 277, 289AA, or 295AA of the Immigration Rules solely because they or their sponsor were aged between 18 and 20 and whose application was refused on that basis between 27 November 2008 and October 2011’.

This includes applications made inside or outside the UK. The guidance sets out how refused applicants can apply for a review of the original decision to refuse a visa which the agency say ‘might now result in a visa being issued’.

Changes to the Immigration Rules have been laid in Parliament today to reinstate a minimum age of 18 for a spouse, civil partner, fiancé(e), proposed civil partner, unmarried partner or same-sex partner and for their sponsor in order to qualify for entry clearance, leave to enter, leave to remain or a variation of leave on that basis. These rules will come into effect on 28 November 2011.

The new policy guidance explains how applicants affected by the judgment can request a review of an earlier refusal due to the age requirement by 31 May 2012.

Further information on how to request a review can be found under the partners and families section of the UKBA website, Husband, wife or civil partner, Unmarried or same-sex partner, and Fiance(e) or proposed civil partner categories. Source: UB Border Agency.

Speaking on the judgement last month the Immigration Minister Damian Green said:

“This is another very disappointing judgement, which overturns a policy that exists and is judged to be consistent with the ECHR in other European countries.

“The judges themselves agreed increasing the marriage visa age had a legitimate aim.

“We believe this decision will put vulnerable people at risk of being forced into marriage. We will come forward with our response in due course.”

The Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI), which represented Amber and Diego Aguilar in their case, estimates the ruling could allow up to 5,000 foreign spouses to settle in the UK every year.

Habib Rahman of the JCWI said:

“This was a law introduced on the hoof, which had no discernible effect on forced marriage, but infringed on the rights of UK citizens to live in the UK with their partners.

“We are delighted to see it consigned to the scrap heap of misguided legislation.”

See also:

UK Border Agency ‘dumped’ missing asylum seeker cases

UK border force head suspended

Court overturns UK Government’s non-EU under 21 spouses ban

JCWI and ILPA update on Zambrano case

EctHR Judgment Bah v UK

UK Border Agency announce further changes to the student visa system

If you need any immigration advice or help with Sponsorship or Work Permits, Visa, ILR/Settlement, Citizenship, dependant visa or an appeal against a refusal please email: info@immigrationmatters.co.uk or visit www.immigrationmatters.co.uk

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Earn While You Learn with an NVQ QCF Vocational Qualification

NVQ’s or National Vocational Qualifications are work-related, competence-based qualifications introduced to train people in the workplace. They reflect the skills and knowledge needed to do a job effectively, and show that a candidate is competent in the area of work the NVQ represents.

Millions of ‘learners’ or students (resident and international learners on student visas) in the UK have taken NVQ courses covering a wide diversity of subjects ranging from Health and Social Care, Customer Service, Administration, IT and Hospitality and Catering.

Vocational qualifications in the UK have recently been revamped by the introduction of QCF or Qualifications and Credit Framework model, which gradually replaced NVQ’s during a transition period giving learners time to complete their course.

There are thousands of learners still finishing NVQ’s, which will still be a valid qualification, however, to make matters even more confusing, the qualification framework levels have also been changed. For instance, an NVQ level 4 management level qualification is equivalent to a QCF level 5.

Advantages and disadvantages of QCF and NVQ

The QCF, like an NVQ, is a system for recognising skills and qualifications in a vocational setting. It does this by awarding credit for qualifications and units (small steps of learning), with each unit holding a credit value. This value specifies the number of credits gained by learners who complete that unit.

The advantage and flexibility of the QCF system allows learners to gain qualifications at their own pace along routes that suit them best. Unlike an NVQ the QCF’s credit based system means that a student who fails to complete the entire award, certificate or diploma can gain recognised credits for their work rather than walking away empty handed.

The main drawback for the QCF will be employer recognition and acceptance. NVQ’s are a well known ‘brand’ understood by industry as the standard for vocational, as opposed to academic, learning. Critics have argued that the qualifications could have been updated without dropping the established ‘NVQ’ label.

NVQ’s and QCF qualifications are based on 'national occupational standards' laid down by the Government bodies and the Sector Skills Councils. These standards describe what competent people in a particular occupation are expected to be able to do. They cover all the main aspects of an occupation, including current best practice, the ability to adapt to future requirements and the knowledge and understanding that make competent performance.

Within reason, NVQ’s and QCF qualifications do not have to be completed in a specified amount of time. They can be taken by full-time employees or by school and college students with a work placement or part-time job that enables them to develop the appropriate skills. There are no age limits and no special entry requirements.

How are QCF’s/NVQ’s achieved?

QCF/NVQ’s are achieved through study, training and on-going assessment. Assessment is normally through on-the-job, work related observation and questioning. Candidates produce evidence to prove they have the competence to meet the standards. Assessors ‘sign-off’ units when the candidates are competent. The assessor tests candidates’ knowledge, understanding and work-based performance to make sure they can demonstrate competence in the workplace.

There are no exams, dissertations or complicated written work needed to gain a vocational qualification.

The UK qualifications regulator QFQUAL describes the new structure as simple yet flexible.

Every unit and qualification has a credit value and a level. One credit represents ten notional hours of learning, showing how much time the average learner would take to complete the unit or qualification. Levels indicate difficulty and vary from entry (1) to level 8. There are three types of qualification:

Awards (1 to 12 credits)
Certificates (13 to 36 credits)
Diplomas (37 credits or more)

You can have an award of any difficulty level from 1 to 8. This is because the type indicates the size of qualification, not its difficulty.

Comparing QCF with other qualifications

The title of a qualification should indicate its difficulty, how long it will take the average learner to complete, and its general content, using the following information:

Qualification level (from lowest, entry level to level 8 at the top)
Qualification size (award/certificate/diploma)
Content of the qualification

The title of a qualification you will enable you to judge the degree of difficulty, how long it will take the average person to complete and a good idea of the content.

To illustrate the level of difficulty of the units and qualifications in the new framework OFQUAL states that that GCSEs (grade A*–C) are at level 2, GCE A levels are at level 3, a Bachelors Degree would be at level 6, a Masters Degree at level 7 and a PhD is a level 8.

Where can you gain a QCF qualification?

You can find approved training centres all over the country. Colleges and centres must be assessed and approved by an official awarding body such as OCR, EDEXCEL or EDI in order to run QCF courses.

To ensure high standards are maintained, centres must demonstrate to the awarding body that they have competent tutors/assessors and IV’s (Internal Verifier) in place before approval is granted.

London Cactus College is an accredited NVQ/QCF Training Centre based in the north London/Edgware area, which has helped over 400 hundred students gain vocational qualifications in the last couple of years.

Who can take an NVQ/QCF vocational course?

In general anyone can take a vocational course provided they are able to demonstrate competence in a work based environment.

Some units within the QCF structure are purely 'knowledge based' and may be taken without the need for work based assessment.

The beauty of NVQ QCF courses is that you can earn while you learn and gain a valuable work based qualification, which employers love!

Bulgarian and Romanian students

NVQ and QCF courses previously proved popular with Bulgarian and Romanian citizens seeking to gain a practical work based UK qualification whilst studying and working on a 'yellow card' registration (BR1).

Like other overseas students, many EU students already have academic qualifications in their own country which have not led them into the work place. Taking a vocational course will give them the practical skills to enable them to find a job.

The vocational or work based element of the course allows Croatian students to work full time whilst studying. Employers usually welcome NVQ/QCF students because their course relates to the work they are doing and training helps drive up standards. Students like vocational courses because they can ‘earn while they learn’.

After 12 months of continuous full time study and work Croatians can apply for UK residence Blue Card.

For more information on immigration rules for Croatian citizens who wish to work and study in the UK email me, visit the Home Office website or see an OISC registered immigration adviser.