Rush for UK visas in India to beat introduction of new rules

October 02 2009 by Gareth McConnell

The UK visa application centre in Chandigargh, India was overrun with people earlier this week. They were all hoping to obtain their visas before the changes to the UK visa regulations were introduced yesterday.

The new tighter restrictions affect those applying for visas under Tier 4 of the UK points based system and largely impact people who are hoping to gain a student visa to allow them to study in the UK.

The tighter restrictions require student visa applicants submitted from outside the UK to show they have funds for fees and maintenance in their banks for a 28 day period within a month of making their application. However, those who applied before 01 October only had to show they had the funds on the day they applied.

Many of those seeking visas in the rush failed as the counter at the Visa Facilitation Services centre closed early due to the rush for people who had come from all over Punjab and Haryana.

One visa seeker told the Economic Times of the desperation among the applicants, "there is no discipline here. Nobody is giving us any information. The police are also baton charging us. First police asked us to sit, then after about ten minutes, they started beating us. One boy started bleeding after being hit in the leg."

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