Overseas education consultants have welcomed the UK’s recent move to suspend taking visa applications in New Delhi, Chandigarh and Jalandhar from February 1.
Witnessing an unprecedented increase in the number of student visa-seekers from North India, Britain has suspended accepting such applications. It suspects there may be attempts to abuse the system. The three centres received nearly 1,000 student visa applications from October to December 2007. The number rose to 1,800 during the same period in 2008, but dramatically soared to 13,500 in 2009.
“The UK took this decision because many applications were coming in, especially from North India, and that was not expected. They needed time to process these visa applications. With the global economy showing signs of recovery, students want to go abroad for employment opportunities besides studies,” said Aparna, a senior career counsellor at CampusUK, a UK-based education consultancy, which gets 200-300 students every month.
Experts said the point system of the UK visa process was being abused as the financial background and the status of dependents being shown were not correct. They added that fly-by-night operators used forged documents to send students and other people abroad, “most of whom would not study but only work there”. Reports suggest that around 104,522 Indian students are studying in the US, followed by over 97,000 in Australia, 25,905 in the UK and over 6,040 in New Zealand.
“This was detrimental to the genuine students as they faced increased competition from the fraud ones, who would take up the jobs meant for the latter. The UK high commission has taken the correct step and this will help in curbing illegal movement into the UK,” said an expert from Delhi-based Angel Visa Services, which gets around 200 student visa applications for the UK annually.
The UK Border Agency took this decision in response to the unexpectedly high number of student visa applications in these areas at this time of the year. “The temporary suspension will allow the UK Border Agency to continue to scrutinise applications thoroughly and manage the visa process efficiently for our customers in North India,” said a statement from the British High Commission.
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Most consultancies, however, do not believe the move will affect business prospects. “This may temporarily hamper business, but in the long run, it's in the interest of the industry as well as that of the student community. This will get rid of both fake colleges and unscrupulous agents rampant in the industry. Unfortunately, some genuine students may also suffer in the process. We are convinced that the UK government would do everything to secure interests of such students,” said Naresh Gulati, CEO, Oceanic Consultants.
“Students need not worry as they will not suffer. But the genuine ones will get delayed. The high commission is checking for fictitious documents,” said a consultant.
The high commission, too, reiterated that Indian students would be welcome in the UK and British High Commissioner Sir Richard Stagg said: “The educational links between the UK and India are a vital part of our bilateral relationship. I am keen that Indian students continue to study in the UK and am pleased that so many Indian students are taking up this opportunity. But some applicants are attempting to abuse our visa processes and we will not let that happen. This temporary measure is designed to protect genuine students.”