Government sets out proposals for major reform of the student visa system

07 December 2010

Tougher entrance criteria, limits on work and an end to students staying in the UK to look for a job are just some of the changes proposed by Immigration Minister Damian Green today as part of a shake-up of the student visa system.

Launching a public consultation on the reform of the student entry route to the UK of the points-based system – the Home Office also revealed that 41 per cent of students coming through this route were studying below degree level courses.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said:

‘believe attracting talented students from abroad is vital to the UK but we must be more selective about who can come here and how long they can stay.

‘people imagine students to be those who come here for a few years to study at university and then go home – that is not always the case. Too many students coming to study at below degree level have been coming here to live and work, rather than studying. We need to stop this abuse.

‘Today’s proposals follow a major review of the system, and are aimed at a more selective system and, crucially, reducing the numbers to meet our target of reducing net migration to sustainable levels.’

The consultation will run for 8 weeks, seeking views on a range of measures to reduce the number of students that can come into the UK. Proposals include:

• reducing the number of people coming to the UK to study at below degree level;
• introducing a tougher English language requirement;
• ensuring students wishing to extend their studies show evidence of academic progression;
• limiting students’ entitlements to work and their ability to bring in dependants; and
• improving the accreditation process for education providers, alongside more rigorous inspections.

The Government has committed to making changes across the immigration system to achieve its overall aim of reducing net migration, in addition to the introduction of an annual limit on workers from outside the EU. The student route accounts for two thirds of migrants entering the UK each year which is why it is a key focus for reform.

Damian Green added:

‘This Government wants high calibre students with the genuine desire to study to come to our country to come for temporary periods, and then return home. We want to hear views of our proposals from a wide range of people so that our reforms meet this objective.’

The new proposals could see Tier 4 – students coming to the UK under the points- based system – restricted to those studying largely degree level courses and to child students, unless the institution is a Highly Trusted Sponsor. English language competence could become the key indicator of someone’s eligibility to complete a higher level course and all Tier 4 applicants will have to pass a secure English language test showing competence at intermediary level B2, a step up from the B1 currently required.

The drive to ensure students return overseas after their course finishes will mean students will have to leave the UK and apply for a new visa to further their studies, and show evidence of progression to a higher course. It will also see the closure of the post-study route under Tier 1.

In addition, the Government will be looking at ways to improve the inspection and accreditation of the education sector, to ensure the courses offered by private institutions of further and higher education are of the highest quality.

The Home Secretary announced on 23 November 2010 a number of changes to immigration policy in respect of Tiers 1 and 2 of the points-based system, designed to deliver the government’s commitment to place a limit on non-EU economic migration to the UK.

Further details of these changes will be published before they are implemented in April 2011.

The changes announced yesterday are set out below.

Tier 1

The Tier 1 (General) route will be closed.

The Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) route will be reformed to make it more attractive. We will introduce flexibilities and create a new avenue for promising start-up companies which do not meet our investment threshold.

The Tier 1 (Investor) route will also be reformed to offer an accelerated route to settlement, depending on the level of investment.

The Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and Tier 1 (Investor) routes will not be subject to a limit on numbers.

A Tier 1 route for persons of exceptional talent will be introduced. This will cover migrants who have won international recognition in scientific and cultural fields, or who show sufficient exceptional promise to be awarded such recognition in the future. Applications by those with exceptional promise will be endorsed by a competent body in the relevant field. The ‘exceptional talent’ category will be subject to a limit of 1,000 places. Tier 2 will continue to be open to migrants working in these fields.

Further details will be published as soon as possible.

Tier 2

The Tier 2 (General) route will be subject to a limit of 20,700 places for 2011/12.

This limit will not apply to:

• in-country applications from those already in the UK;
• dependants of Tier 2 migrants;
• Tier 2 (General) applicants who are filling a vacancy with a salary of more than £150,000;
• Tier 2 (Sportsperson) applicants;
• Tier 2 (Minister of religion) applicants; and
• Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) applicants.

Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) applicants in the Established staff sub-category will be able to stay in the UK for up to 5 years if they are paid more than £40,000 per year; those paid between £24,000 and £40,000 will be able to enter for up to 12 months within a specified period.

The current rules will continue to apply to Tier 2 (Intra company transfer) migrants in the Graduate trainee and Skills transfer sub-categories.

Tier 2 (General) applications will be restricted to graduate-level vacancies. The Migration Advisory Committee will advise us on what are to be considered graduate-level jobs, and we will amend the shortage occupation list accordingly. Existing Tier 2 (General) migrants in jobs below graduate level will be able to extend their permission to stay if they meet current requirements.

The minimum level of English language competency for Tier 2 (General) applications will be increased from basic to intermediate level (B1 on the Common European Framework of Reference).

Applications for certificates of sponsorship will, where the limit applies, be considered on a monthly basis. If the monthly allocation is oversubscribed, applications will be ranked according to:

1. shortage occupations in the first instance;
2. whether the post requires higher academic qualifications; and
3. salary.

Potential workers who are granted a certificate of sponsorship will have 3 months in which to apply for a visa.

Settlement

There will be a new criminality threshold, requiring applicants to be clear of unspent convictions, for all those applying for settlement.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 migrants applying for settlement will need to meet the salary criteria that applied when they last extended their permission to stay.

If an applicant fails to pass the minimum English language requirement, their application for settlement will be refused.

The UK Border Agency has responded today to the Guardian newspaper following their publication of footage of an illegal immigrant being returned to their home country.

Enforced returns are a vital part of a viable immigration policy, which relies on the government’s ability to enforce the return of those with no legal right to be in the UK who refuse to leave voluntarily.

In a statement the UK Border Agency has made clear it will investigate any inappropriate use of restraint used on the flight if the footage demonstrates that this was the case.

Dave Wood, strategic director, criminality and detention for UK Border Agency, said

‘We take any allegation of mistreatment by our contractors extremely seriously. We will look at this footage carefully.

‘According to the contractor’s records, the detainee had become violent and non-compliant before the flight took off and trained escorts took the decision to use restraint in line with agreed procedures. A previous attempted removal had already failed due to his disruptive and violent behaviour.

‘He was accompanied on the flight by medics who examined him during the flight and found no injuries as a result of the restraint. No complaint was ever received from him, his legal representatives, the airline or any passenger on the flight following this removal more than a year ago.’

An illegal immigrant who used a fake Dutch passport to apply for a job working with vulnerable young people has been jailed for a year.

Oyewole Adeyale, 28, pleaded guilty to ID offences when he appeared at Luton Crown Court on Tuesday.

The Nigerian illegal entrant had used the fake passport to apply for a job as a night support worker at a privately owned residential home for vulnerable young adults near Bedford.

When his documents were checked by the Criminal Records Bureau concerns were raised about the validity of the Dutch passport.

This information was passed to the UK Border Agency’s immigration crime team and on 5 October officers arrested Adeyale at his home address in Swanwick Lane, Broughton, Milton Keynes.

Sam Bullimore, UK Border Agency assistant director, said:

‘This case clearly demonstrates the vital importance of carrying out the proper pre-employment checks, particularly when the job applied for involves working with vulnerable members of society.

‘If these checks had not been carried out Adelaye’s lies would not have been exposed. His deceit has now landed him in jail and will ultimately see him deported from the UK.’

Regulations have been laid before Parliament which will require even more migrants to apply for biometric residence permits if they want to extend their stay in the UK. The permits will replace the stickers (known as ‘vignettes’) which these migrants currently hold in their passports.

Subject to parliamentary approval of the regulations, migrants who apply to extend their stay in the UK under Tier 1 or Tier 5 (Temporary worker) of the points-based system will need to enrol their biometric information (fingerprints and photograph) as part of their application from 14 December 2010.

The UK Border Agency has published an impact assessment and an equality impact assessment for the changes. You can find these under ‘Policy and law’ on the right side of this page.

On 19 July 2010, the UK government introduced a limit on the number of visas that can be issued to overseas applicants under Tier 1 (General) of the points-based system until 31 March 2011. The limit does not affect applications from dependents, applications to switch into Tier 1 (General) from a different immigration category, or applications to extend existing Tier 1 (General) visas.

The UK Border Agency administers the limit on a monthly basis. In order to avoid breaching the visa allocation for October 2010, we will not issue any more visas for successful Tier 1 (General) applications made overseas until the limit allocation reopens on Monday 1 November 2010.
Applicants outside the UK

If you are applying under Tier 1 (General) from abroad, you can still submit an application for Tier 1 (General) during this closure period. But if your application is successful, we will not issue a visa to you until the limit re-opens.

If you currently have an outstanding Tier 1 (General) application, there may be a short delay in issuing your visa if your application is successful. For more information, see the Visa services section.
Applicants inside the UK

If you are applying to extend your permission to stay in the UK under Tier 1 (General), or to switch into Tier 1 (General) from another immigration category, the limit does not affect you. If your application is successful, your permission to stay will be issued as normal.

Five people have been arrested as part of a major UK Border Agency investigation into a gang suspected of supplying illegal workers to UK employers.

In one of the biggest operations of its kind undertaken by the agency, approximately 150 of our officers and police officers took part in early-morning raids on 15 locations in Sussex, Surrey and Kent.

The raids followed an 8-month investigation by our south east immigration crime team into the supply of illegal workers.

The workers were being provided for an employment agency based in Crawley.

An 61-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man were arrested on suspicion of facilitating a breach of the immigration laws and money-laundering offences at 2 addresses in Crawley.

Another woman, aged 44, was also arrested on suspicion of facilitating a breach of immigration laws and money laundering at Clacket Lane service station on the M25.

Two men, both from Sri Lanka, were arrested on suspicion of facilitating a breach of immigration laws at separate addresses in Crawley.

All 5 are now being questioned at police stations in Sussex.

IT equipment and documents were seized from a number of locations, and will now be examined. A substantial quantity of cash was also recovered.

Around 25 people, believed to be mainly Sri Lankan nationals, were arrested for immigration offences at a number of locations in Sussex and Surrey. They are also being questioned, and we will seek to remove those found to be working here illegally.

Andy Cummins, head of the immigration crime team, said:

‘We believe that we have disrupted a significant international organised criminal network, which aimed to assist people to enter and stay in the UK illegally.

Today’s operation is the result of an extensive investigation involving both the UK Border Agency and the police’s south east organised crime directorate. That investigation continues.’

even people involved in a large scale sham marriage scam to try and beat UK immigration rules have been sentenced at Manchester Crown Court.

The Czech gang arranged for bogus brides and grooms to take part in marriages to Nigerians, Pakistanis and a Syrian who all wanted to stay in the UK. Six of the gang committed bigamy after being involved in multiple fake wedding ceremonies.

A sham marriage typically occurs when a non-European national marries someone from the European Economic Area, including the UK, as means of attempting to gain long-term residency and the right to work and claim benefits.

The 3 men and 4 women, from the Bolton and Liverpool area, pleaded guilty to charges of assisting unlawful immigration and bigamy at an earlier hearing.

The gang organised sham marriages at unsuspecting churches and register offices in the North of England and in London.

Vladimir Murko, 37, married 1 woman at St Chrysostom’s Church, Manchester, in November 2008 and had made arrangements for 2 further possible weddings prior to his arrest. He was jailed for 5 years and 2 months for assisting unlawful immigration and possession of a forged document.

• Roman Murko, 32, the brother of Vladamir Murko married 2 women in separate church ceremonies at St Michael and All Angels Church in Peel Green, Manchester in November 2008 and St Thomas Church, Stockport in March 2009. He was jailed for 26 months for assisting unlawful immigration and bigamy.
• Petra Cinova, 26, married 2 men in ceremonies at Bolton Register Office in October 2006 and St John the Evangelist Church in Cheetham Hill, Manchester in March 2008. She was jailed for 16 months for assisting unlawful immigration and bigamy.
• Aneta Belova, 26, married 2 men in ceremonies at Bolton Register Office in March 2007 and at All Saints Church, Forest Gate, London, in November 2008. She was jailed for 16 months for assisting unlawful immigration and bigamy.
• Nela Ginova, 23, married 2 men in ceremonies at St Peter’s Church, Levenshulme, Manchester in September 2008 and in November 2008 at Bolton Register Office. She was jailed for 16 months for assisting unlawful immigration and bigamy.
• Monika Lakatosova, 30, married 3 men in ceremonies at St Aidan with St Luke Church, Sheffield in February 2008, at Bolton Register Office in March 2009 and in April 2009 at St Chrysostom’s Church, Manchester. She was jailed for 16 months for assisting unlawful immigration and bigamy.
• Pavel More, 43, married 1 woman in a wedding service at the Church of St Stephen, Liverpool in October 2008. He was jailed for 26 months for assisting unlawful immigration.

Dave Magrath, head of the UK Border Agency immigration crime team in the North West, said,

‘These sentences send out a clear message to anyone thinking of taking part in this kind of criminal activity.

Four people were arrested today as part of our investigation into a suspected sham marriage in Reading.

Acting on intelligence, our officers from the Agency’s Thames Valley immigration crime team swooped on Reading register office at around 14:00, just as the service was about to start.

The would-be bride, a 25-year-old Polish national, and her groom, a 22-year-old Pakistani man were both arrested on suspicion of perjury. Two witnesses, both Polish men were also arrested on suspicion of assisting illegal immigration. All 4 are now being questioned by police and by our officers.

At the same time officers carried out searches of 3 addresses in the Southall and Northolt areas of west London.

Rob Allen, head of the Berkshire local immigration team, UK Border Agency said:

‘We are working closely with registrars to identify marriages that may not be genuine, and where we suspect that may be the case we will investigate.

‘We will not tolerate immigration abuse and our immigration crime teams are cracking down on sham marriages all over the country.

‘Our main aim is to identify the organisers who profit from and fuel the demand for sham marriages, and destroy their criminal business.’

The enforcement operation was part of planned nationwide action by us to tackle illegal immigration and organised immigration crime.

A Chinese man who tried to avoid arrest by running into the sea in Torquay last week was deported on Wednesday 18 August.

The 39-year-old was attending Torquay police station last week as part of his immigration bail conditions. When he realised he was about to be detained by officers from the UK Border Agency he made a dash for freedom.

He ran through the streets of the city pursued by police officers before entering the sea fully clothed.

He was later hauled on to a boat, arrested and put in immigration detention, while a seat on a flight to Shanghai could be booked.

The man, who was refused asylum in the UK, put in a last ditch legal challenge to avoid removal which was rejected by the courts.

Richard Taylor, Chief Immigration Officer for the UK Border Agency in Plymouth said:

‘I want the thousands of holidaymakers who witnessed this incident to know what happened next.

‘It can sometimes be quite challenging to deport illegal foreign nationals from the UK but, as this case shows, we are determined to remove people who are not entitled to be here.

‘This man abused our hospitality by failing to leave the country after his claim for protection was rejected by the Home Office and by the independent courts. He also worked here without permission. It’s only right that he should be returned to China.’

The individual was caught working illegally at the Golden Kitchen on Preston Down in Paignton in August 2008.

Damian Green, the Immigration Minister, said:

‘The government has tasked the UK Border Agency with carrying out an intense period of enforcement activity over the summer. We are determined to make it harder than ever for illegal immigrants to come to the UK.

‘Illegal immigration puts pressure on public services, local communities and legitimate businesses at a time when this country cannot afford it.

‘That’s why the UK Border Agency is working to put a stop to illegal employment, sham marriages, bogus colleges and organised traffickers, being used by foreign nationals to try and stay in the UK illegally