UK visas - ELT and immigration questions. Round 1.

publication date: Apr 17, 2009

author/source: Jason West

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Okay, in March I wrote and emailed a letter to the DIUS, the UK Border Agency and the UK embassy in Tashkent outlining what we do, why we do it and why we don't fit the accreditation system in the UK because we teach in a very different way and just have people coming as 'visitors' to do two weeks (i.e. short holiday courses) of EOT in London.
This is the first response I got, after the 31st March, i.e. deadline day, and the first paragraph contains a factually incorrect statement...I did not ask 'about registering to be on the DIUS Register of Education and Training Providers', we were on it already and had been from its inception, I was asking for clarification that we would still be able to receive students who were visitors or student visitors.
See what you think...
info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk <info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk> 2 April 2009 14:38
To: jason*****@gmail.com
Dear Mr West
Thank you for your e-mail of 12 March, addressed to the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills' (DIUS) Information mailbox, about registering on the DIUS Register of Education and Training Providers. On this occasion I have been asked to reply.
I should advise you that the Home Office has changed the existing process for granting entry into the United Kingdom (UK) and have introduced a Points Based System for managing migration of all categories of overseas nationals. This will enable the UK to control migration more effectively, tackle abuse and identify the most talented workers. The DIUS Register of Education and Training Providers is now closed and has been replaced by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) Register of Sponsors. All queries should be addressed to the UKBA.

If you intend to continue recruiting international students you will need to be registered on the UKBA Register of Approved Sponsors. There is no automatic transfer from the DIUS to the UKBA Register of Sponsors.

For more information about the UKBA Register of Sponsors please see the following link: http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/registerofsponsors/.

As from 31 March 2009 any educational institution in the UK that wishes to admit students from outside of the European Economic Area to undertake a course of study must apply to the UKBA to become a registered sponsor.

For full details please see the following link: UK Border Agency | Points-based system: guidance for employers and sponsors.

For educational institutions in the UK that only wish to admit students from within the European Economic Area please see the following link for archived details of the register: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/registerofsponsors/

If you have any queries relating to the above please send to: LETP.enquiries@UKBA.gsi.gov.uk.

I hope this information is helpful.

Yours sincerely
Public Communications Unit

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number ***********. To correspond by email with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills please contact info@dius.gsi.gov.uk.

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Jason West <jason******@gmail.com> 2 April 2009 16:02
To: info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
Dear Sirs

Please can you clarify the visa regulations with regards student visitors.

On the UKBA website it says that if you wish to apply as a student visitor you must not study for more than six months and must fulfil all the requirements of a general visitor (see attached pdf of the web page). Then there is a link to the general visitor information page where it says that you must not be intending to study. Surely this is contradictory. What is the exact situation?

Furthermore, the UKBA website says:

If you are coming to the United Kingdom as a visitor to study you must:
genuinely be seeking entry as a student visitor for the limited period you tell us you require that does not exceed six months;
the holder of a Sponsor Licence for Tier 4 of the Points Based System, or
accredited by a UKBA approved accrediation body, or
an overseas Higher Education Institution offering only part of their programmes in the United Kingdom, holding their own national accreditation and offering programmes that are of an equivalent level to a United Kingdom degree
If you are coming as a student visitor and comply with the terms of a general visitor's application do you need to be the holder of a Sponsor Licence for Tier 4 of the Points Based System...?

Surely the Tier 4 system introduced on the 31st March was designed for the issuance of student visas when the applicant wished to work and take a long course? Please can you clarify this.

To further add to the confusion the http://ukinuzbekistan.fco.gov.uk/en/visas/ website says this:

Students please note!
If you are aged 18 or over and intend to undertake a course of less than six months duration you are eligible to apply for entry clearance as a Student Visitor. If you wish to apply under this category please ensure you click the "Visitor" category on the Visas4UK website, followed by "Student Visit". If you are below the age of 18 and intend to undertake a course of less than six months duration you may apply as a "Child Visitor". Again please click the "Visitor" category followed by "Child Visit". Note that if you are under the age of 18 you must show evidence of parental consent for your travel, and show that arrangements are in place for your care whilst you are in the UK under the Child Visitor rules.
In addition when I visit http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/employers/points/sponsoringmigrants/migrantcategories/students/ to have the categories of students explained your website says:

Categories outside the points-based system
The 'prospective student' and 'student visitor' routes will remain outside the points-based system. See the section on Visitors for more information.
If a student visitor is outside the points-based system, then surely they can book, pay and study on a short course of their choosing without having to have a Tier 4 sponsor? Please can you clarify.

When I click on the word 'visitors' and then click through to the criteria for general visitor applications on the list of requirements is this:

if you are a student, a letter from your school or college stating which course you are on, its start and finish dates and the dates of the holiday period during which you intend to visit the United Kingdom;

It is not explained if this is a letter from the student visitors school in their own country or the school they intend to take a short course at in the UK. Please can you clarify?

If they require a letter from their school/college at home can they then attend a course in the UK provided by an organisation that only teaches short courses and is not a Tier 4 sponsor? Please can you clarify?

This is all as clear as mud and my company, which only teaches short English courses and cannot be accredited by any of the UKBA accredited accrediting bodies because it does not teach English in the way they prescribe, could, if it turns out that student visitors must apply to a Tier 4 sponsor organisation, suffer materially financially from the poor communication and lack of clarity that your websites have been displaying. I checked the websites months ago and again today and understood that visa nationals could still book and attend my short courses even if I wasn't a Tier 4 sponsor. Your reply below would suggest that we need to be a Tier 4 sponsor to receive 'student visitor' category customers. Again, please can you clarify?

I have attached pdfs of the web pages in question.

I have owned and run British Council accredited schools since 1994, have done consultancy work for the British Council, recently spoke at a conference in India organised by the British Council and operate a short course that is unique and innovative and was shortlisted for an award by the British Council in 2004. It has also been on the DIUS register of education providers list since its inception.

A detailed and point specific reply would be greatly appreciated at your earliest possible convenience as every day that there is this confusion we will potentially be losing customers.

Your faithfully

Jason West
Director
Languages Out There
www.languagesoutthere.com

2009/4/2 <info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk>
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4 attachments
student-visit from website 020409.pdf
37K
student-visit contradiction with general visitor UKBA website 020409.pdf
47K
general visitor eligibility from UKBA website 020409.pdf
29K
categories out side the points based system 020409.pdf
42K
LETP Enquiries <LETP.Enquiries@ukba.gsi.gov.uk>
Dear Sir
I apologise if you have found the literature on our website confusing. I will feed back your concerns to the communications team, so we can review the content.
I hope it is useful to confirm that migrants coming to the UK will only be eligible to apply for student visitor status if they meet the following criteria;
If you are coming to the United Kingdom as a visitor to study you must:
·         genuinely be seeking entry as a student visitor for the limited period you tell us you require that does not exceed six months and have been accepted on a course of study which is to be provided by an institution which is
o        the holder of a Sponsor Licence for Tier 4 of the Points Based System, or
o        accredited by a UKBA approved accreditation body, or
o        an overseas Higher Education Institution offering only part of their programmes in the United Kingdom, holding their own national accreditation and offering programmes that are of an equivalent level to a United Kingdom degree
The website does provide guidance for migrants wishing to apply under Tier 4 student arrangements. Paragraph 11 of that guidance does state that to apply as a student under Tier 4, you must have an approved education provider. All education providers who want to provide courses for international students need a licence from the UK Border Agency. Once an education provider is approved a licence, they will be added to the Tier 4 register of sponsors.
I hope this information is useful.
Regards
From: Jason Behalf Of Jason West
Sent: 03 April 2009 12:22
To: LETP Enquiries
Subject: Re: clarification please
Dear Sir
Thanks for your clarification, however, the confusing information on your website that I have provided to you and which you say you have now passed to your communications team, unequivocally lead me to believe that short courses under six months, especially short courses taken as holidays by people who previously would have entered the country as visitors, were, as your website says, 'outside the points-based system' i.e. Tier 4.
As I have explained, there is no accrediting body that can accredit my organisation as we operate and teach in a way that has already (in 2004) fallen foul of British Council/English UK inspection criteria for solely English language teaching organisations relating to the teaching of English (the 'appropriate' body we would normally apply to).
We failed that inspection in 2004 not because we were badly run, dishonest or had poor facilities, but because of the way we taught English. We passed every section of the inspection, except the inspectors did not like our new and innovative approach to teaching.
Please can you answer me this very important question.
Does the new immigration legislation stipulate and prescribe the methodology by which the government feels people learn the English language most effectively?
If it does not, then the position my company now finds itself in could reasonably be argued to be, in effect, a restraint of trade.
Please can you escalate this email as a serious letter of complaint to the appropriate person within the DIUS and copy it to the appropriate persons at the UK Border Agency.
Yours faithfully
Jason West
Director
2009/4/3
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UK visas - ELT and immigration questions. Round 1.

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