This user-submitted post has been edited due to a legal complaint from Katherine and King’s College London.
hi.i applied for a student visa 22nd march10.my sponsor was katherine and kings college london.their licence gt suspended 18th march and they informed me on 24th march.however this resulted a major delay in processing my application.my visa got rejected on the 27th june.due to the reason that i had minimum balance which was £7066 was short of £389 at the beginning of the month although the closing balance was over £9000.[snip] Do you think I will qualify for a refund? Their terms and conditions are as following.
PAYMENT & REFUND
The course fees advertised by the College is correct at time of issue, however the College reserves the right to change any course fees prior to the course commence date.
The college is not responsible for your bank charges.UK bank charges will be added to your cost, and are applicable to all methods of payment accepted by the college.
The College do not accept credit cards, debit cards and foreign cheques.
All tuition fees are payable in full before the course commence date. In regard to overseas students, the college requires all outstanding balances to be cleared once visa applications are approved by UKBA.
At the discretion of the college, students may be allowed to pay their fees by instalments, but a surcharge to cover additional administrative fees will be added to the tuition fees.
Registration Fee and/or Administration Fee
The registration fee and administration fee is not refundable, except in such situations described in 2.4.
Registration fee is payable when registering with the college for the first time.
Any registration and subscription fee for professional association is not refundable.
Deposit
Deposit is not refundable or transferable if the student decides to cancel an enrolment within one month of the original course starting date, except in such situations described in 3.7.2.
If for reasons beyond the student’s reasonable control (UKBA regulation change, major disaster or major accident), the student’s ability to study in the United Kingdom is compromised, deposit may be refundable within one month of the original course starting date. This decision will be made on a case to case basis and the College reserves the right to charge up to three times of the registration / administration fee as cancellation fee.
Deposit is refundable if the student decides to cancel an enrolment one month prior to the original course starting date, provided all original documents and receipts issued by the college are returned.
Deposit is refundable if the student has been refused a visa to enter United Kingdom, provided:
1. the student has not entered into UK.
2. the student provides the college with the original ‘Refusal Letter” issued by British Consulate, and return all original documents and receipts for fees paid issued by the College.
3. if the student has logged an appeal, the fee will only be refunded once the college receives documentary evidence that the appeal has been dismissed.
The College will charge three times of the registration / administration fee as cancellation fee.
If the visa refusal due to fraud, dishonesty or negligence of the student or the student’s representative, no deposit will be refunded.
Once the student has obtained a CAS from the College, deposit will not be refunded unless the student can provide an acceptable and genuine reason to withdraw his/her application. In which case, the College reserves the right to charge up to three times of the registration / administration fee as cancellation fee.
Deposit is not refundable or transferable once the student has obtained a visa using the college’s official documents and/or CAS.
If a student decides to finish the course early or discontinues the course once the course has started, no part of tuition fees will be refunded or transferred except in such situations described in 2.4.
If a student arrives late for the start of the course, takes a holiday during the course, or is asked to leave the college because of serious misconduct or poor attendance, no tuition fee or accommodation fee is to be refunded for the time missed.
Tuition fee is not transferable.
When accommodation is booked through the college, the booking fee (￡50) and one month’s rent as a deposit should be paid in advance at least one month before the start of the course. No fee can be refunded if a student withdraws the booking at any time. The minimum of contracted period is 3 months.
This post was submitted by taimoor.
KKCL is a Thief College.
I have taken them to the Court.
Let’s wait & C.
What Happens???
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Legal complaints by Katherine and King’s College show that they have felt the heat. After all they have done injustice with their student. I think, now the college will not refund the fee of complainant because protest by the weak party always has consequences. It doesn’t mean that one should not protest against injustce. Sitting thousands of miles away from UK how can a student know that the institution listed in the Register of Sponsors is really an Education Provider or a Factory of making Pounds.
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Thanks Daniel for your reply, you have bought out some valid points. However please consider the following:
Since the CAS came into existence, UKBA can now track the College’s immigration reporting record and Visa success rate. On the UKBA guideline, it asks all sponsors to carry out responsible student recruitment and minimise the risk to UK boarder security.
Simply put, if a college has too many failed visa applications, UKBA only assumes that the college’s recruitment policy is poor. Similarly, if a student decides not to turn up to class or run away from the college, it is the college that will be punished. Despite the college cannot control any of the above.
You have said UKBA will consider all applications on the merit of past immigration record, then how can colleges protect their interest?
£10 is the ukba’s charge for CAS, but how much is it worth to the college? Each CAS = a few thousands in fees, can the college really afford to make such loss?
Regarding to refund, I can clearly see the spirit of the Katherine College’s policy is that deposit is refundable unless visa fail due to student’s problem.
Studying is not like buying a consumer product; the education industry’s norm is to take a deposit which becomes non-refundable after certain conditions are met (i.e. within 1 month of course starting date). This is required because they need to make preparations for the coming term and the time window for student recruitment is limited. Just like if you put a deposit on a new car. Although it’s not been delivered to your home, work has already been done.
One college I know in central London (A rated), requested for quota increase for 2 months now and still nothing. There is no one you can even speak to UKBA just take their sweet time.
Yes, there are bogus colleges that do nothing but to scam money. But the fact is Colleges are caught between a rock and a hard place, all thanks to UKBA’s unreasonable expectations. After all the college should not be doing ukba’s job, the college is there to provide education, immigration control is ukba’s responsibility. This entire CAS quota limit (not the SMS system, I like SMS system) should be scraped, the colleges know how many student they can induct and it was fine for the last 100 year.
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Some good points again Leon, thanks for your input.
Whilst visa refusals form a part of the picture, they are not considered a major measure of a sponsor’s performance. The UKBA states that sponsors must, “must have in place, practises to minimise the numbers of refusals of leave against migrants with a confirmation of acceptance for studies from their organisation.”
However, the UKBA has stopped short of setting a threshold for visa refusals; so they consider this test to be much more subjective. There are other areas of immigration control where the UKBA is much more objective and sets explicit limits on the numbers of certain events. For example:
- Visa issued but applicant fails to enrol within 1 month of course commencing: up to 4%, 4-6% will see the sponsor’s rating downgraded to B
- Percentage of migrant students enrolled who have ceased studies within 33% of course duration: Up to 2%, up to 3% will result in B rating
- Percentage of migrant students enrolled who have failed to complete course: up to 7%, to 10% will result in B rating
As can be seen by the policies of the UKBA, what they refer to as immigration history is much more focused on those who obtain visas and fail to enrol or go AWOL. There is no provision for downgrading a sponsor’s rating to B based on visa refusals alone.
The issue I have with charging for new CAS records following visa refusal is that this must be stated in a college’s terms and conditions or it is tantamount to blackmail: pay more or lose what you’ve paid already. Without such terms I do not see how a college could enforce such a policy. And of course, a college would not put this clause in their terms and conditions as it would deter potential students. And for good reason, don’t you think?
I have no problem with a deposit being non-refundable and as you said, this is common practice. However, refusing to refund all tuition fees is not justifiable.
I would suggest that reasons for delays in the UKBA releasing a new batch of CAS records is more to do with the pressures placed on the Agency, such as working out how to implement the UK Government’s immigration cap. This has certainly led to delays in the processing of Highly Trusted licence applications, an issue the UKBA openly admit.
I agree; College’s are under enormous pressure. However, they profit from their enterprise and should not shift this pressure on to the students. I feel this is unfair. Smart colleges know how to – as was drummed into me during my time as an Officer in the British Army – adapt, persevere and overcome.
CAS quotas are in theory a good control, as a college should not be able to offer more places that it can fulfil. Thankfully, gone are the days of students arriving with no room to study. There have been many stories of students forced to sit and study on the floor because colleges have deliberately oversubscribed. Clearly, this malpractice had to be stopped. I think the core of the problem is no dedicated department within the UKBA to manage the process. Making sponsors responsible for reporting on their students’ whereabouts and behaviour is also a good idea, as colleges are at the front line in dealing with student migrants.
Maybe the radical reforms of the UKBA planned by Damien Green – the UK Immigration Minister – will address these issues.
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“If the visa refusal due to fraud, dishonesty or negligence of the student or the student’s representative, no deposit will be refunded.”
I don’t think any one would have a problem with colleges not refunding students making fraud or dishonest applications. However negligence can be challenges if you have taken all necessary steps to avoid the mistake.
To be honest I don’t see how this term is unfair, if you didnt mess up then you will be granted a visa (sorry for being blunt), whereas if your visa refusal was due to the college’s mistake they will have to refund you in accordence to their t&c.
Colleges are business too and they are under heavy regulations from ukba. Greed is one thing but I can see many colleges going broke if they don’t exercise some kind of protection. whats gonna happen to their staff & students then?
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Thanks for your comments Leon.
Please remember that you’ve taken one line of the Ts&Cs in isolation. You must consider the statement before it, which reads along the lines of a refund will be processed on production of a visa refusal document.
The problem is that these 2 statements clearly cannot be true, can they? Now consider if the 2 terms together are fair or not? 1 says you’ll have a refund if you’ve been refused a visa, the other says you can only have a visa if the school/Embassy is at fault. Do you see that these 2 statements contradict each other?
If your visa refusal is due to a college’s mistake, you should expect more than just a refund. This is called professional negligence and I would want compensation for the college’s mistake. This is me, maybe you’re more relaxed about the whole thing.
The issue of sympathy for a college spending money which really they shouldn’t (yet) is an interesting one. Remember they’ve collected tuition fees (the clue’s in the name). If you are not there to receive tuition, why should it be OK for them to have spent your fees? On what? Whilst there is nothing binding colleges to keep client funds separate, as in some professions, should a college go broke because it has spent funds that are not confirmed as theirs, then this is down to poor business practice.
Most colleges are cash poor in that for every £10 of income, they spend £9. The student should not be responsible for this situation, which is what you are suggesting.
Think of this: if you buy a consumer good, it is your right to return it for a full refund within 7 days. You do not hear of companies going bust because of refunds.
Why should education providers be the only businesses that are ruthless with their refund policies?
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Daniel, the reason why there are colleges charging for issuing a new CAS is because UKBA only give limited number of CAS to each College, and i believe requests for increase is very difficult to say the least.
I don’t recall any college charge (apart from a modest admin charge) for re-issuing Visa Letter before this whole tier 4 crap. Imagine if half of the students fails to get visa then the College is stuck with half a class while not able to induct new students.
I’m not a lawyer so i’m not sure about contract law, but it sounds very expensive to take any kind of serious action.
Best to try to deal with the college rather than spending ££££s on a case you “might” win.
There are many college which dont do refund at all after CAS been issued, this looks like the trend unless ukba actually realise some visa applications may fail and stop counting these towards the CAS limit.
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Thanks again Leon for continuing the discussion.
However, you’ve not told the entire story.
The UKBA will set a limit on the number of confirmations of acceptance for studies the sponsor can assign. The limit may be:
- the sponsor’s requested number of confirmations of acceptance for studies; or
- a lower limit if the sponsor is B (Sponsor)-rated, a start-up organisation or has any history of not complying with immigration rules, or there is insufficient justification for the number
In setting the limit, all the following circumstances will be taken into account, including the sponsor’s estimated requirements and other factors, for example:
- the sponsor’s previous record in dealing with the UKBA (including its previous dealings with the work permits arrangements);
- the type and size of its organisation; and
- its total student capacity; and
- the length of time for which it has been operating.
The sponsor may ask to increase its limit for confirmations of acceptance for studies if it thinks it is too low, or if it reaches its existing limit. It can do this using the sponsorship management system. The UKBA will consider such requests using the principles listed above. They may also reduce the sponsor’s limit if its circumstances change taking into account the factors above, or if they believe that the sponsor poses a threat to immigration control.
I’ve had personal experience dealing with education providers who have been waiting for the OK from the UKBA to issue more CAS records. Generally I’ve found this to cause a delay of only 1-2 weeks.
There is therefore, no reason in any circumstances that a college can justify charging huge fees for a new CAS.
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PS
When exactly did you not have the required funds? Did you have the required funds in place when you submitted and paid for your application?
If so, you should challenge the refusal decision. All visa applications are to be judged based on the date they were paid and submitted.
Please provide more details to clarify the above.
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Have you paid just a deposit or full course fees?
I think you could well challenge the decision in court, provided you hire a good lawyer. Why? My reasoning is as follows:
This college’s terms and conditions are internally contradictory. They state:
- Deposit is refundable if the student has been refused a visa
- If the visa refusal due to fraud, dishonesty or negligence of the student or the student’s representative, no deposit will be refunded.
The last clause basically means there is no valid reason for the college to provide you a refund!
I’m pretty confident that if challenged in a court of law, these terms would not be upheld. When it comes to UK consumer law, these terms would not be acceptable.
Under UK contract law, just because you’ve agreed to terms does not make them valid; parties are protected from situations such as this by the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977. Basically, just because you’ve agreed to be bound by terms, it does not make them enforceable if they are unfairly constructed and put you at a significant disadvantage.
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The college’s t&c stated if your visa is refused due to negligence of the student then deposit will not be refunded. It is your negligence in this case so I don’t think you can challenge them on legal grounds.
I agree with shahadz,you are better off trying to get the college to issue you a new CAS or do a administrative review. However CAS is gold at the moment so it’s unlikely they will issue another CAS for free.
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Any college that charges high fees for a new CAS deserves to have their licence permanently withdrawn and sued for unlimited damages.
Disgusting behaviour.
Should you be in a position where you can neither get a refund nor a new CAS without paying further ridiculous fees, legal action should be taken immediately, as this places students in a lose-lose situation.
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CAS does not exactly be as gold. i juz found out that the cost of CAS is only £10. got this info from the ukba website.
http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/costs/confirmationofacceptance/
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Exactly, beware any college that does not charge this flat fee for the CAS, especially on a first application.
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Its fantastic to know. Im in a similar situation and I just printed that out. Thanks for the help.
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College has stated that if visa is refused due negligence of student, they will charge three times of the registration/administration fee as cancellation fee. In your case, it is your negligence and college must refund the fee less administration charges. You must contact with some of your friend in UK for legal support. I know it is not very cheap but you don’t have any alternative.
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if you r still interested in study. contact your college to issue new CAS.
you can apply on new CAS or having an extention letter to this existing CAS. They can extend the course start date.
Now on re-apply your bank statement will complete 28 required days.
You can re apply on the same bank statemnent
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I agree Shahzad; I would always encourage students who have been refused a visa to re-apply with a new CAS. Better for everyone.
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