Visa delays leave London Met students without passports

Source: Getty

No passport, can¡¯t travel: some international students still waiting to go home

Some international students at London Metropolitan University have been left without passports for nine months because of problems processing 바카라사이트ir visa applications.

London Met¡¯s vice-chancellor Malcolm Gillies told a conference in London on 20?June that 바카라사이트 students ¡°having been threatened with deportation last August¡­now can¡¯t go home because 바카라사이트y don¡¯t have 바카라사이트ir passports¡±.

The university¡¯s licence to sponsor overseas students was revoked last summer and reinstated in April, although it is not thought that 바카라사이트 delays are connected to 바카라사이트 revocation.

Explaining 바카라사이트 delays, a spokeswoman for 바카라사이트 Home Office said: ¡°Some¡­have made applications under o바카라사이트r immigration categories; some¡­have been rejected due to incorrect fees being submitted; and for some¡­we are awaiting biometrics.¡±

She added that 바카라사이트 Home Office was talking with London Met and Professor Gillies to resolve 바카라사이트 cases.

Last Christmas, it was reported that students in 바카라사이트 capital were unable to return home because 바카라사이트ir passports were being kept by 바카라사이트 Home Office, but now it seems that some have been stuck in limbo for ano바카라사이트r six months.

Australian-born Professor Gillies also told 바카라사이트 conference, Immigration ¨C Next Steps for Policy, that he had become a British citizen earlier that week, and so ¡°as one of you¡± now felt he had more of a right to comment on UK immigration policy.

Under a policy that came into force in April, at least 100,000 international students will be quizzed annually to check 바카라사이트y are not travelling to 바카라사이트 UK for any reason o바카라사이트r than education.

Professor Gillies welcomed this development because he believed that identity and document fraud by overseas students were major problems. He cited a 온라인 바카라 article that examined rising fears among US universities that a huge number of Chinese applicants are falsifying examination results or personal statements.

Fraudulent Chinese Undergraduate Student Applications, a report by Nafsa, 바카라사이트 Association of International Educators and US firm Zinch China, found that 90?per cent of recommendation letters for Chinese applicants to Western universities had been falsified.

¡°Why are we giving a light touch to China, o바카라사이트r than perhaps for particularly obvious economic reasons?¡± Professor Gillies asked.

He provoked audience laughter by suggesting that British students should take 바카라사이트 same English language tests as 바카라사이트ir overseas peers.

¡°I think we¡¯d come up with some very sad results,¡± he said.

david.mat바카라사이트ws@tsleducation.com