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Tag Archive for 'tier 4 policy guidance'

UK Ban on Visas for Indian Students Lifted

The UK has lifted a ban on student visas for applicants from Northern India. The ban was introduced last month after a surge in applications from this region.

Pat McFadden, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills, said, “I am delighted to be able to announce today that from 1 March this suspension will be lifted for all students wanting to study higher education courses, whether foundation degrees, undergraduate or postgraduate.”

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Government’s Latest Tier 4 Changes Cause Confusion

I love my country and have been a supporter of our current Government. However, the Home Secretary’s announcement on Saturday of a number of new tier 4 rules and announcing that they are effective immediately has left many scratching their head, including the UK Border Agency. The new Tier 4 rules are being brought in following a review in November, to finally stop the wide-spread abuse of the UK student visa system. With 30% of migrants who come to the UK being students, one can understand the need for change. However, I think a little more thought should have gone into it. The Tier 4 new rules announced, effective immediately, are:

  • A new minimum level of English is to be set at Intermediate level. This is roughly an IELTS 4.0 or TOIC 385 – 550.
  • All student migrants who are studying courses below degree level will have their working rights restricted to just 10 hours per week.
  • Any student migrants studying a course of less than six months will no longer be able to bring dependants to the UK with them. Migrant students studying longer courses can bring dependants, but they will have no right to work.
  • All applicants of courses below degree level will now have to check if their education provider is on a new register, the Highly Trusted Sponsors List.

These new tier 4 changes follow a review begun in November 2009 of Tier 4 under the Points Based System and is expected to cut applications in 2010 by tens of thousands. These new policy announcements come amid fierce criticism of the Government for the current Tier 4 system, with political opponents claiming that the system still allows terrorists and deliberate overstayers into the UK. These new changes come amid a huge overhaul of the student rules of the Points Based System. Over 200 bogus colleges have now been shut and by 2011 the Home Office hopes to have the most sophisticated immigration system in the world, allowing people to be checked both in and out of the country. I called the UK Border Agency this morning to get clarity on the above new rules. Surprise, surprise I was told that they had no idea what I was talking about. When I said to the telephone operator that the Home Secretary had announced that the rules were effective immedielty, she told me that the UK Border Agency had been informed of nothing by the Home Office and that as far as they were aware, the old rules still stood for applicants applying under Tier 4. So, who should we believe? As soon as we find out anything more concrete, we’ll post it here. We’d like to hear from anyone who has applications pending during these changes to Tier 4 rules.

Tier 4 Policy Guidance – Last Day to Use Visa Letter Approaching

Please remember that on Monday 22 February 2010 the final phase of Tier 4 of the Points Based System (PBS) will be implemented.

What this means:

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Tier 4 Sponsorship Management System Update

It was announced yesterday by the UK Border Agency that further enhancements to the Points Based System Sponsor Management System would be made. The next tier 4 changes are expected to be implemented on the 22nd February, to coincide with the launch of the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies system.

The UKBA sponsorship management system is a brand new database system which allows licensed education and employer sponsors to bring people to the UK and manage their stay too. The UKBA reports that these new changes are the result of consultation with the sponsors themselves and based on feedback following the introduction of the points based system on 1st April 2009.

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Indian Tier 4 (General) Student Visa Applications Suspended

India accounts for more UK student visa applications than any other country worldwide and following a rise in applications of more than 650% on the same period in 2008, the UK Border Agency has temporarily suspended UK Tier 4 (General) Student Visa applications for the UK from Northern India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Over October, November and December 2008 there were 1,800 student visa applications received from Northern India compared to 13,500 applications over the same period in 2009, from Northern India alone. British officials in the countries concerned have said that the system has been completely overwhelmed by the sheer volume of applications and concerns run high that many applications may not be genuine. And this concern is not misplaced as offers of visa as a route to permanent settlement in the UK are not uncommon in the areas where the suspension is in place.

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UK Plans Another Shake-up of Visa System

The British industry showed extraordinary dynamism and motivation last year when Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, announced in November that there was to be an unexpected review of the student visa system, with a number of new proposals put forward to prevent  bogus immigrants entering the country.

In fact, the proposals amounted to a full-scale assault on the international education sector and industry bodies were given just 10 days to respond to specific proposals set out by the UK Border Agency (UKBA). Hundreds of stakeholders lobbied MPs, signed a petition and returned submissions.

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Tier 4 Policy Guidance – Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies

Students applying under tier 4 for UK after 22nd February 2010 will no longer be issued with an original visa letter but with a virtual document in a further shakeup to the UK Border Agency’s tier 4 (general) student visa system.

Replacing the visa letter, the confirmation of acceptance for studies is a unique reference number which is assigned to a student by their school or college using the new sponsorship management system. Rather than present an original visa letter with their applications, under this new tier 4 rule students will have to submit their confirmation of acceptance for studies reference number, avoiding the expense of having documents sent secure mail across the world.

Click to continue reading “Tier 4 Policy Guidance – Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies”



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