International educators have criticised a decision by the chancellor, George Osborne, to raise the cost of a student visa by up to 10% every year for the next two years, saying it will create more barriers to studying in the UK.
The chancellor proposed the rise during the government’s spending review last week, in which he set out spending plans for 2015-16. To cushion the blow of a 6% cut to the Home Office’s budget, the cost of student and working visitor visas (including the highly-skilled and entrepreneurs) will increase by “no more than 10%” each year.
This means that a Tier 4 student visa, currently priced at £298 by post offshore or £406 onshore, could cost £360 or £491 respectively in two years – more expensive than in Australia (although new levies on some onshore applications cost more), the USA, Canada and New Zealand. The Home Office would not confirm whether the rise would affect student visitors as well.
“The rises provide yet another negative signal to international students, who are already receiving very contradictory messages from UK government policy”
Beatrice Merrick, Director of Services and Research at the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA), told The PIE that “above inflationary rises” in visa costs were a serious concern.
“First, they provide yet another negative signal to international students, who are already receiving very contradictory messages from UK government policy about whether they are welcome to the UK,” she said.
“Second, most students feel that rising costs should be matched by improved service standards, and although we welcome the intention of government to provide a more customer-oriented visa service following the UK Border Agency’s disbandment, we have yet to see any concrete sign of progress.”
The new fees do not illustrate the full cost of the visa process, either, which can include the cost of travel to submit biometric information or attend face-to-face “credibility interviews”; obtaining documents and translations; using expensive helplines; and obtaining medical certificates, among others. Students could also be hit with reapplication fees if Entry Clearance Officers asked them to correct minor errors, or if the ECOs made errors themselves, said Merrick.
The Home Office, which is restructuring its border agency after severe processing backlogs were uncovered, said that the rises would be matched by “substantial improvements to visa processing services to ensure the UK remains open for business”.
“The system has become more far-reaching with the implementation of interviews and now ridiculous proposals for bonds”
Asked whether the rise, which was announced in the same week as a controversial bond scheme to stop people overstaying their visas, would deter students, a Home Office spokesperson said: “Immigration reforms are working – net migration has been cut by more than a third.”
The bonds, which would be refundable, could cost students up to £3,000 if applied to them, drastically increasing the outlay cost of study in the UK.
Daniel Stevens, International Students Officer at the National Union of Students, said that international students were being unfairly punished by government policy. “The [student visa] system has become more bureaucratic and far-reaching with the implementation of interviews and now ridiculous proposals for bonds,” he said. “Ultimately, international students have been treated as a political football and to add insult to injury they are now literally paying the price for it.”