| The UK Border Agency announced today that all | | | | private Institutes begin their curriculum. Some private |
| new applications for Tier-4 Student visa shall be | | | | colleges and Universities however do take students in |
| suspended beginning February 1, 2010 because of | | | | January but not to the extent seen in rise in |
| unprecedented developments in the last quarter. | | | | applications. |
| According to their press release, the last quarter | | | | Thirdly they have not seen similar rise in the number |
| ending December 2009, the UKBA office in New Delhi | | | | of application from other countries to explain a |
| received more than 13,000 applications as opposed to | | | | general trend. |
| less than 2000 applications during the same period in | | | | The UKBA office still remains partially mum |
| the year 2008. | | | | and doesn’t want to pre-judge such issues |
| The affected regions are as follows: | | | | unless they fully complete their internal investigations |
| - North India: New Delhi, Jalandhar and Chandigarh | | | | of all the applications and verify the documentation |
| - Bangladesh | | | | provided to them from all authentic sources. |
| - Nepal | | | | I personally believe that changes in documentation |
| The unexpected mountain of applications in itself may | | | | criteria which went into affect last year in 2009 could |
| not be so intimidating but the UKBA office suspects | | | | partly be the reason. Under the new rules, a student |
| serious issues behind this rise. The official reasons | | | | could show sufficient funds in his/her bank accounts |
| vary from fraud documentation to suspected human | | | | for only 28 days unlike earlier when the funds had to |
| trafficking. The countdown to the September 2009 | | | | be in the bank for longer duration. It easier to |
| intake season saw very high UK Tier-4 Student visa | | | | manipulate the bank documents for 28 days only as |
| rejections primarily due to stricter documentation | | | | opposed to 90 days or more. Secondly the downfall |
| criteria. Now for the January 2010 intake season, the | | | | of Australia as a preferred destination for students |
| officials suspect extremely high volumes of | | | | left only UK and USA as alternatives. Since USA has |
| documentation fraud in preparation for the visa | | | | its own share of economic and employment related |
| application. | | | | issues, UK remains a reasonably viable choice. |
| Second cause for suspicion is that January intake is | | | | Let’s wait to hear from the officials about the |
| not a major season compared to September intake | | | | real reasons for the mind-boggling 6-fold increase in |
| which is when most of the major Universities and | | | | the applications. |