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October 26, 2004
Foreign students to be hit again I
The Home Office intend to raise visa renewal (‘Leave to remain’) fees for international students to as much as 380 or 495 pounds. (The lower price is for postal applications, the higher for personal ones.) The charges will also apply to highly skilled migrant workers and some other categories.
Until August 2003 there were no charges. After that date fees of 150 or 250 pounds were demanded, in theory to cover the cost of processing applications. (This was dubious because the new system introduced written application documents which didn’t exist before the charges.)
Basically the government is now suggesting that the full cost of processing applications, hearing appeals and enforcing visa extension refusals should all be paid for out of the renewal fee. In other words, bona fide foreign students will have pay the costs involved in processing visa offenders.
The period granted for both visas on entry and renewals is at the discretion of the immigration officer. This means that the Home Office will be able to maximize their income by reducing the period of stay.
Arrangements like these - which will be imposed following a Home-office-style nominal consultation - make complete nonsense of Jack McConnell’s Fresh Talent initiative to give visa extensions to graduates.
Are the SNP listening?
Edinburgh University International Office has published a good explanation of what is involved:
www.ed.ac.uk/internat/HomeOfficequestionnaire.html
Posted by Simon Holledge at October 26, 2004 12:25 AM
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