A new policy introduces mandatory interviews for potential students who seek Visas from ‘high risk’ countries
This comes after a plethora of ‘substandard’ cases of Visa application were unearthed by the a watchdog. Investigation into these cases resulted in findings that over 30% of cases lacked legitimacy under thorough scrutiny.
The government will launch this system at the end of the month, forcing thousands of students to travel to UK centres where their case, intentions and plans will come under intense questioning.
This is in further effort to reduce the amount of fraudulent cases of government-sponsored financial support, which is very high, and has been put PM David Cameron under intense pressure to calm the swelling of the situation.
His plans to reduce immigration by the “tens of thousands” has begun to take shape as new policies make news regularly.
Cameron has been subject to flak from MP Ed Miliband for not acting fast enough about the issue.
A spokesperson for the scheme suggested there would be perhaps 14,000 interviews this year.
He went further, saying that “dedicated students” would not be affected; more average students who were not fully committed toward the idea of seeking education in Britain, which is becoming harsher on immigration.
Officers will have the power to deny applications after the interview, as long as they provide fair reason as to why they have taken the action.
Which countries have been targeted?
It is predicted that the system will be placed into parts of the world such as the Indian subcontinent, some parts of Asia as well as Middle Eastern countries and some countries in Africa. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Burma, Nigeria and the Philippines will be affected!
Some pilot studies have shown large rates of rejection, with Burma being the highest, along with Nigeria, India and Bangladesh, all of which summed to roughly a 60% rate of Visa rejection.
Many students who aim to reach a place of higher education within Britain have shown concern and ultimately disinterest toward not only the policy, but in a large amount of cases, rejection of British education due to feelings that the process would take too long, or that they are beginning to feel unwelcome.
Controversy toward the issue is mainly directed toward the fact that only selected states are subject to interview, leading to many feeling that their nationality may be the deciding factor in the quality of their education, instead of intelligence or drive.
There are several countries who have been granted immunity toward the high risk Visa policy:
Argentina, Brunei, Chile, Croatia, South Korea and Taiwan to name a few.
A British spokesperson said that they were open to students, yet they must have a clear set reason and goal as to being in the country; that they did not want people to enter the country, leave education and find themselves claiming unemployment benefits.
A huge Visa crackdown has been the recent flagship of Cameron’s new effort to gain voters back from opposing parties Labour and UKIP, both of which have been gaining lost voters due to differing polices and views.
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