EU students say permit delays are putting degrees at risk
By now, Emilia Gheorghe, a second-year Romanian student at Hull University, should be working at an international summer school, developing children's English language skills and arranging activities.
It was a job that could have boosted her chances of getting a place on the Teach First scheme for high-flying graduates.
Instead, she has been forced to stay with a friend while she waits for the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to process her application for a work permit – 18 months after she originally applied.
"If this happened in Romania, all Europe would have pointed the finger at us," she says. "I'm sure most people in England don't even know this is happening."
She is now making a complaint to the parliamentary ombudsman against the UKBA, blaming it for losing her original application made in February last year, then failing to process her re-application – made in December – within the promised six months.
She is not the only one waiting for permission to work while she studies. Alina Cracuin, president of the university's Romanian society, says six others at Hull alone are affected – and that is before another 25 Romanians arrive there this September.
"We really need to solve this problem as soon as possible, because some of us have a placement year and we cannot apply or start it without the yellow card – the work permit – and of course we cannot finish our degree in this situation," she says.
The National Union of Students says it has received floods of complaints against the UKBA in recent months, from those who need to work during their studies, as well as from non-EU students applying for post-study work visas. Hundreds signed a petition this month complaining that delays mean they have had to do without their passports and other documents for months, in spite of paying more than £500.
The petition states: "If the United Kingdom … would like to continue setting a high educational standard and attracting the best and brightest from across the globe, the UKBA needs to guarantee that it will process visa applications in a timely, transparent, and efficient manner."
Duncan Lane, director of advice and training at Ukcisa, the UK Council for International Student Affairs, says the UKBA seems to have been suffering from staff cutbacks. Staff have also had to deal with the Olympics just as student demand began to soar, with some trying to renew their leave to remain, while others arrive to do language courses. There will be an even bigger surge in September at the start of the new academic year.
Lane says changes to immigration rules have created a "climate of fear" both among institutions worried about losing their licence to recruit foreign students, and among students themselves anxious about further delays to their applications.
Ukcisa has recently received a number of reports of bogus UKBA officials asking students to pay hundreds of pounds or see their application rejected – a scam playing on current fears.
A spokesman for the UKBA says: "In recent months, the UKBA has received higher than forecast numbers of applications. We are currently redeploying staff to deal with these applications and are doing all we can to increase the availability of appointments. The majority of applications will be cleared by the end of the summer.
"In cases where applications are urgent, they can use our public enquiry offices by arranging an appointment via the Immigration Enquiry Bureau."
Romanian and Bulgarian students are treated differently from other European students when it comes to work permits. When Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, students were originally told they would be denied full permission to work. However, this was changed so that they can now get permission, but only if they first obtain a registration certificate confirming that they are students.
The UKBA website says it aims to decide 95% of postal applications for registration certificates within six months, but last week it was still working on cases received on December 8 2011.
Statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency show 4,625 Romanian students (up nearly 45% on the previous year) and 4,615 Bulgarian students (up 36%) studied in the UK last year, putting them among the top 10 European nationalities studying here.
Gheorghe's lecturer Mick Wilkinson, director at the centre for research on social justice at Hull, says: "If students from Romania and Bulgaria can get jobs to help with their studies in Sweden or Ireland, then they will go there. I do think there is a potential danger for this university here – and for other universities."
George Sonei, a Romanian student at Canterbury Christ Church University, says his mother had to get a job away from home to pay for his studies because he was unable to work in his first year.
He has just received his permit, seven months after applying: "This issue should be resolved as soon as possible for students, because most of them rely on this piece of paper. It is the only way they can stay in uni, the only way they can make a living while studying."
Source:-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/...anian-students
Originally Posted by grahamw48
