Thousands of Foreign Students Reported Over Visas

At least 27,121 migrants were reported to the UK Border Agency by universities and other foreign student sponsors between March 2009 and August 2010. The figures were released to the Manifesto Club campaign group under the Freedom of Information Act. Some 228,000 foreign students came to the UK to study last year. Three in four of these come from outside the EU.

In its Students Under Watch report, the Manifesto Club, which campaigns against regulation, said strict visa controls were forcing academics to spy on students, eroding academic autonomy and damaging relationships between students and staff.

Proportionate system

Josie Appleton, the group's director, said: "Academics are not border agents, and they should not be dragooned into spying on their students. "The UKBA now has rights of entry to any university campus, which is a major threat to academic autonomy. We call for a more proportionate system, which recognises the historic autonomy of the university." The University and College Union, which represents academics said the relationship between staff and students was incredibly important.

Its general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "It is built on trust and must not be jeopardised by fears that lecturers may be spying on students. "Successive governments have had plans to turn lecturers into spooks overwhelmingly rejected by the academic community." In July, MPs accused the government of rushing plans to curb student visas, saying they could harm the economy.

'Widespread abuse'

The Home Affairs Select Committee said that it was concerned that official figures indicated the restrictions could cost the economy £3.4bn. Officials estimate the measures will cut net migration by 230,000 by the end of the current parliament. But immigration minister Damian Green said the changes were introduced after full and extensive consultation. A UKBA spokesman said: "There has been widespread abuse of the visa system for too long and we have made radical changes in order to make the system more rigorous and accountable. "We expect education providers who are sponsoring foreign students to make the necessary checks."

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Posted in: foreign students , student Visa , UK Border Agency , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , uk student visa , UK Visa

Stricter UK Visa Rules Put Some Colleges in Bind

Less than six months after the British government announced tighter restrictions on UK student visas, at least one university has said it is being forced to close one of its campuses as a result of the new regulations. Schiller International University, which is based in Florida and has four other international campuses, is closing its London campus and will not start its autumn semester, which was to begin on Tuesday, officials said last week.

The university would not provide enrollment figures but said 80 to 85 percent of its students were from non-European Union countries, which means that they required visas to study in Britain. A person who answered the main office phone at Schiller’s London campus said about 35 students enrolled there last year. “The decision to close our London campus was directly related to the new UK immigration rules,” William Moore, executive vice president of the university, said in an e-mail.

The university, founded in 1964, offers degrees in business, economics and tourism, with the London campus located in the borough of Southwark. The other campuses are in Largo, Florida; Heidelberg, Germany; Madrid; and Paris. The new visa rules were announced in a speech to Parliament in March by Home Secretary Theresa May, in which she said the government was “cracking down on bogus colleges” and “bogus students.” The first of the changes went into effect in April, with more restrictions to be imposed through April 2012.

Reducing immigration has been a major policy issue for David Cameron’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government since it came to power in 2010. In a speech made in September of that year, Immigration Minister Damian Green said that although Britain benefited from immigration, “unsustainable levels of net migration seen in recent years must be brought down.”

But the British Home Office subsequently released a report in June saying that the British economy stood to lose £1.3 billion to £3.6 billion, or $2.1 billion to $5.8 billion, over the next four years, largely as a result of lost productivity from foreign students, graduates and their dependents. Universities also stand to lose £170 million from tuition fees, while the UK Border Agency would lose £160 million in visa processing fees, the report said.

A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency, which is responsible for carrying out the government’s immigration policy, said in a statement that the estimate focused only on student and graduate jobs, which could be filled by British workers, and explained the need for visa reform.

“A significant proportion of the impact is due to less work being done by students, poststudy workers, and their dependants,” said the spokeswoman, who declined to give her name, following agency policy. “This is a worse-case scenario dependent on this work not being filled by the U.K. labor market.”

“The old student visa regime,” she added, “was open to widespread abuse and failed to protect legitimate students from being exploited by poor quality colleges.” Gina Hobson, chief executive of the British Accreditation Council, an independent accreditation body for independent colleges, said the changes could have an effect the institutions in the future. “We’re aware of a couple of other institutions that have decided that it’s no longer viable to run,” she said this month in a telephone interview.

“Given the impact the immigration policies will have on the sector, I expect to see further closures in the private education sector, which may include institutions with partnerships with U.K. universities,” Ms. Hobson said. Under the new, more stringent framework of “educational oversight,” all higher education institutions will be required to obtain so-called Highly Trusted Sponsor status from a much smaller list of official accreditation bodies before they can sponsor prospective foreign students for their visa applications.

Highly Trusted Sponsor status requires institutions to satisfy criteria like minimum enrollment rates and course completion rates, as well as being subject to periodic inspections by the British Home Office. The British Accreditation Council is one of several independent bodies that will lose their power to accredit higher education institutions. Nicola Dandridge, chief executive of Universities UK, a body representing Britain’s public universities, said the further impact would be unclear.

“It remains to be seen what long-term impact these changes will have on the numbers of international students applying to come to study at U.K. universities,” she said this month in a statement. According to the British Home Office, the education industry is worth £40 billion annually to the British economy, of which international students contribute £12.5 billion. In 2010, a total of 334,815 student visas were issued by the British government, but the British Home Office has predicted that the new measures will result in 67,000 fewer per year.

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Posted in: UK Border Agency , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , uk student visa , UK Visa

Ten Interesting TipsTo Help You Understand Your Immigration Case

I have discussed before some tips for a successful US Immigration and Successful UK Immigration. I also share to you the Ten Commandments of Succesful Immigration. Now let me share to you some tips on how you can understand your Immigration case.

The following information has been culled from many sources and been the subject of our office meetings. Some of the 10 points which are covered may provide helpful tips to those applying for immigration benefits. Others may allow for understanding of how the process works by agencies administering benefits and enforcement. Overall we hope the article helps the reader.

• 1. Where the beneficiary is overseas in an I-130 marriage case, U.S.C.I.S. will not issue an RFE (Request for Further Evidence) to obtain a missing beneficiary signature on a Form G-325A biographic data sheet, but will adjudicate the I-130 form and the signature can be later collected at the consulate.
• 2. To expedite Form I-131 reentry permit biometrics and delivery of the permit, an applicant should mark the outer envelope of the form I-131 package "Expedite" and include two prepaid mailers for delivery of both the ASC (Application Support Center) appointment notice and travel document. If the applicant provides an e-mail address or fax number, the Nebraska Service Center will be able the fax the ASC appointment to the applicant and the ASC will be willing to accept the duplicate copy of the appointment notice.
• 3. Lawyers complained that because of the current I-140 form distinguishing between EB-3 (employment based third preference) professional and EB-3 skilled workers, several I-140 petitions have been denied because the box for "professional" was marked where the Nebraska Service Center found that the petition was not approvable as an EB-3 professional, but evidence submitted demonstrated that the petition was approvable under the skilled worker category. Nebraska stated that petitioners who notice the need for change prior to adjudication can e-mail directly to ncscfollowup.nsc@dhs.gov. It said that there was no need to phone prior to sending the e-mail communication.
• 4. Where the applicant does not have a Form I-94 entry/exit card and is applying for adjustment of status to permanent residence based on family relationship, he/she should submit Form I-102 Application for Replacement/ Initial Nonimmigrant Arrival-Departure Document with the I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status to the Chicago Lockbox of the NBC (National Benefits Center). The Lockbox currently separates the I-102 from the I-485 if there are separate checks for each form. If there is one check payment for both forms, the forms stay together in the applicant's "A" file.
• 5. Confusion has often appeared to be the order of the day where petitions or applications to U.S.C.I.S. are complex and thick, and attorneys and others have constantly asked for guidance from the agency on how to separate the different exhibits so that the petitions or applications are more readily understandable to the examiner. Of great concern has been the fact that the cashiers at U.S.C.I.S. Service Centers tend to snip off any tabs sticking out of the paperwork, whether the tabbing is done sideways or along the bottom of the papers. Following conversations with supervisors and line adjudicators at Service centers, the best current advice seems to be to separate the exhibits by plain sheets of paper, not colored, and mark clearly to what the documents or exhibits relate. If colored paper is used, it should be light-colored.

• 6. There is a recent directive from U.S.C.I.S. Field Operations that where an applicant paid for an I-485 Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status, the application was denied, an NTA (Notice To Appear) issued for the applicant to appear in the immigration court, and the case terminated by an immigration judge, the applicant will have to refile the I-485 application and pay the filing fee again.
• 7. On H-1B cap exemptions based on relation or affiliation with institutions of higher education - until it issues further guidance - U.S.C.I.S. will give deference to prior determinations made since June 6, 2006, that a nonprofit entity is related to or affiliated with an institution of higher education absent any significant change in circumstances or clear error in the prior adjudication. A petitioner should provide U.S.C.I.S. with a copy of the prior I-129 form and attachments, I-797 approval notice, any documentation submitted in support of the cap exemption, and include a statement attesting that the organization was approved as cap exempt since June 6, 2006.
• 8. U.S.C.I.S. has come out with a proposed rule for a new H-1B employer registration system with 60 days comment beginning March 3, 2011. The rule is not targeted for this year's H-1B cap allotment since the 60 day period will end on May 2, well past the beginning date of April 1, 2011, for the initial acceptance of cap subject H-1B petitions. Briefly registration will be free, companies can register applicants as many times as they want and CIS (Citizenship and Immigration Services) will accept the first valid registration and reject any subsequent duplicative requests. Employers will file electronically with U.S.C.I.S. during the registration period beginning no later than March for a minimum period of two weeks and include basic information such as the employer's name, EIN, mailing address, authorized representative's name, job title, contact information (telephone and e-mail address), beneficiary's full name, date and country of birth, citizenship, gender, passport number, and any other information required by U.S.C.I.S.
• 9. A Guangzhou American consulate initial rejection notice for a cook case was interesting in asking for among other items the cook's official blue license/certificate; and a VHS videotape or VCD/DVD showing the cook preparing and cooking from start to finish, Cantonese/Sichuan,/Beijing/Japanese/Western/dishes (whichever applicable) including at least ___ fish dish and ___ vegetable dish. It also stated that the video tape or VCD/DVD should not have any cuts or edits, show the cook's face and hands at all times, and include chopping, ingredients and final presentation.
• 10. The illegal practice of having one's passport marked with official looking stamps of another country showing entry/exit to either "prove" that a person spent more time or less time outside the United States is no longer as effective as in the past due to new tools by CBP (Customs and Border Protection). People on visiting visas who have spent much time in the States are tempted to show that most of their time has been spent in their homeland, and those who hold U.S. permanent residence who have spent much time in their homelands are tempted to show more U.S. physical presence. That is because visitors spending too much time in the States may be thought of as non-bonafide visitors, and permanent residents spending too much time outside the U.S. may be in danger of losing their green cards for not keeping up their residence in the States. Making up your own "backdate" stamps when you return home does not usually now work according to a recent newspaper article focusing on people from the Philippines who tried to backdate arrival dates and were caught by CBP. Proof of travel in and out the United States is now available through various databases. The article cited U.S. VISIT which monitors entries and exits and stores biometric/ biographic information; that carriers are required to furnish manifests of arriving/departing passengers to CBP; and that APIS (Advance Passenger Information System) is a web site interface by carriers to provide advance electronic information to CBP.

Many of the points presented above are technical, but being aware of one or two of them may save an applicant or petitioner time and headache in dealing with the agencies involved in immigration benefits or enforcement. Readers should keep in mind, however, that procedures and policies in the field of immigration are constantly changing and that today's good information is more than occasionally superseded by tomorrow's developments.

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Posted in: immigration case , immigration tips , Travel Tips , UK Border Agency , us immigration

Major Changes in UK Immigration System

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) announced the major changes in the Points Based System (PBS), designed to reduce net migration, to build confidence in the Immigration System, to select the best and brightest to work/study in the United Kingdom (UK), and to bear down on the abuses of the system, according to a Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) press release.

The Philippine Embassy in London advised Filipino nationals in the UK, especially those who plan to apply for entry to the UK under a work or study route, of the recently announced changes effective April 2011. The Tier 1 (Highly-Skilled Migrants) General Category will be closed to new applications while transitional arrangements will be introduced for existing Tier 1 visa holders looking to extend their stay.

Exceptional Talent Visas will be introduced for people in science and the arts.

Prospective Entrepreneur Visas will likewise be introduced and settlement in the UK for investors will be accelerated.

For Tier 2 (Skilled Migrants) Category, there will be a limit of 20,700 places for Out-of-Country (out of the UK) applications, as the route will become more selective and target the best workers.

Tier 2 will be reserved for graduate occupations determined by the UKBA and the Migrant Advisory Committee (MAC)–the current list includes nurses, medical practitioners, information technology (IT) operations technicians, finance/investment analysts and engineers.

The full list is posted on UKBA website.

Sponsors (Employers) will have to apply for Certificates of Sponsorship (COS) with the UKBA.

COS for Intra-Company transfers, In-Country applications (those already in the UK), and those earning over £150,000 per annum will not be affected by the new limit.

In the Tier 4 (Students) Category, all sponsors must be accredited by the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (OFSTED) and its devolved equivalents.

All sponsors must also be a UKBA Highly Trusted Sponsor. University and publicly-funded further education colleges’ students will retain current work rights of 20 and 10 hours a week, respectively. All other students will have no right to work.

Only postgraduate and government-sponsored students on more than 12-month courses can bring dependents, and these dependants can work in the UK. Post-study work route will be closed except for those who have an offer of a skilled job under Tier 2. The current changes and limits will not apply to those who are already in the UK and who entered the country under a different set of guidelines.

Filipinos are advised to check detailed information on the guidelines and requirements for applying to work or study in the UK on the UKBA website. They are also advised to verify any job offers, particularly those secured online, with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) through the agency’s website or via email to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office-UK (POLO): polo.london@yahoo.co.uk or embassy@philemb.co.uk.

Source: Ang OFW Ngayon

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Posted in: UK Border Agency , UK Embassy , UK Immigration , UK Immigration System , UK Visa