A week after the United Kingdom suspended acceptance of student visa applications in northern India, British home minister Alan Johnson on Sunday announced new measures to curb abuse of the system, including tougher English language requirements, reduced work hours and restrictions on bringing dependents.
Johnson also warned: By 2011, the UK would have the most sophisticated system in the world to check people not only coming into the country, but to ensure they leave as well. The new norms, he said, were intended to keep out ‘‘bogus students’’ who came to Britain to work, not study.
Among the new measures is a tougher spoken English requirement for successful applicants, a move that would worry Indian students. As opposed to the current beginner’s level, applicants will now have to speak English to a level only below GCSE (or 11-year school).
Students on short courses, lasting less than six months, will not be allowed to bring in dependents either. In a bid to keep out all but ‘‘genuine students’’, those enrolled in non-degree courses will be allowed to work for only 10 hours a week, instead of 20 at present.
Dependents of students in below-degree level courses will not be allowed to work. ‘‘We remain open to those foreign students who want to come to the UK for legitimate study — they remain welcome. But those who...come primarily to work — they should be in no doubt that we will come down hard on those that flout the rules,’’ Johnson said.
Bolting The Door
Successful applicants need to speak intermediate-level English, as opposed to beginner’s level now
Those enrolled in courses lasting less than 6 months can’t take dependents
Students in non-degree courses can work only 10 hrs a week; it’s 20 at present
Dependents of students enrolled in courses below degree level cannot work
Look poor to be safe, says Oz cop
Victorian police chief Simon Overland has advised Indian students in Australia to keep a low profile and ‘‘try to look as poor as you can’’ to avoid attacks, triggering outrage in the community. ‘‘Don’t display your iPods, your valuable watch, your valuable jewellery. Try to look as poor as you can,’’ Overland was quoted as saying by a local daily at a students’ safety forum on
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