UK immigration announce a ban on students from India
February 01 2010 by Liam Clifford
UK immigration authorities have this weekend suspended UK visas for students from India, Bangladesh and Nepal. This follows concern from government that this area of immigration into the UK is awash with fraudulent entrants.
The ban has been put into action so that UK immigration authorities can attempt to scrutinise applications from these countries more closely. They believe that the route of studying in the UK is being abused as a means for people to enter the country, often on falsified papers.
Immigration staff have complained that they often have no control over allowing entrants into the country if they suspect that they have obtained their UK visa with false documents, the ban follows last weeks announcement that new powers will be given to staff at airports to further investigate suspicious entrants. Applications for Student UK visas have risen by eight-fold compared to this time last year.
Overseas students needed
The UK university system relies heavily on the funding they receive from overseas students, sometimes being as high as 3-times the amount in fees paid by students from this country. The ban however is aimed at the area of language schools that are nothing more than ‘visa factories’.
UK high commissioner to New Delhi, Sir Richard Stagg, agreed that the system had been prone to manipulation;
“This temporary measure is designed to protect genuine students, professional agents and good education providers from anyone who is not currently playing by the rules.”
UK immigration has said that they will review the ban in 1-months time.
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