Sheffield to Continue the Fight for International Students' Rights

Sheffield student leaders celebrate concessions after the changes to international student visas announced on Tuesday, but warn that their campaign is far from over.

Mina Kasherova, International Students’ Officer at the University Of Sheffield Students’ Union, said: 'I am proud of what we have achieved in persuading the Home Office to preserve students’ rights to work whilst they study and their ability to renew their visas in the UK.

'This could not have been realised if it were not for the concerted campaign which brought together universities, students and other key stakeholders.’

Overall, Theresa May’s proposals are significantly less damaging than those released in the UK Border Agency’s consultation document in December 2010. Instead of abolishing the Post Study Work Route altogether, The Home Office have announced this will continue to exist but in way that is considerably more restricted. It has also announced that the dependents of government-sponsored and postgraduate students will still be able to travel to the UK and take up jobs here.

Mina said: 'We are pleased that the Government has taken note of our campaign, but we have much more work to do in order to convince them that international students are an asset to our education system.'

‘We remain critical of the purpose of these changes as we don’t believe there are 80,000 bogus students that need to be kept out of the student visa route. The announced policy will affect genuine student applicants.’

She pointed out that at the University of Sheffield, the contribution from international students' fees accounts for £48 million, or 12 per cent of the total income of the university.

Mina went on to say: “These decisions have been made on the basis of flawed data. Theresa May states that the changes will reduce the number of international students in the UK by 80,000, yet we have no way of accurately measuring that number.

‘There is a severe lack of joined up thinking on this issue between the Home Office, the Foreign Office and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills. The bad press alone from the statement on Tuesday will deter students from applying to UK universities. This would be disastrous for both the city’s universities and the local economy.

Mina and the Students’ Union International Student Adviser Jo Holliday attended the Westminster Legal Policy Forum on Immigration in London on Wednesday and evidence from Sheffield Students’ Union was quoted in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills Select Committee meeting today.

‘We must ensure that we continue to be at the forefront of action on this issue. Our campaign is not over, and we will continue to fight for the rights of our international members.’

For a summary of the announced changes please see below or click here for a PDF version.

You can see the UKBA's summary here.

Student Immigration Changes

The government has announced its response to the Student Immigration Changes. Some of the changes will be introduced immediately but some will be brought in over the next 18 months. We will have more details on 31 March when the Statement of Changes of Immigration Rules is published. You can see the UKBA’s summary here.

1. Rights to work

Post Study Work

The current Post-Study Work route will be closed from April 2012. This means that if you are a current undergraduate or postgraduate student and will be awarded your degree before April 2012, you will be covered under the current scheme.

From April 2012 those graduating from a UK university with a recognised degree, PGCE, or PGDE will be able to switch into Tier 2 provided you are in the UK and have a job offer. You must be paid a minimum salary as specified under the Tier 2 rules and apply to switch before your student visa expires. The employer will not need to apply the Resident Labour Market Test to your job.

There are currently no limits proposed for this category but if there are a significant number of applications this category may be limited.

There will be a new category for student entrepreneurs to stay on in the UK to develop their business proposition. We have no further details on this proposal at present.

Working during studies

These rights remain unchanged. You will continue to be able to work a maximum of 20 hours during term time and unlimited during vacation periods. The government appears to have dropped its proposal to limit term time work to on campus during the week.

2. Dependants

You will not be able to bring family to the UK with you unless you are taking a postgraduate course which is over 12 months long, or you are a government-sponsored student (summer 2011). It is likely that this will apply to you even if you are already in the UK with family if you need to make an immigration application to extend your stay in the UK. We hope to know more about this by 1 April. It would appear that if you are a self-financed undergraduate student you will not be able to bring your family.

3. Length of time studying in the UK

You will not be able to spend longer than 5 years doing courses at degree level. There will be exceptions if you take certain longer courses, including medicine and architecture, and if you study a PhD. This means, for example, you might not be able to do a 4–year undergraduate degree followed by a 2–year Master's course. If you take longer than you expect to do a first degree, you might not be able to take another course below PhD level (April 2012).

4. English language requirements

If you want to study a course at degree level your English language must be at level B2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) (April 2011). The university can carry out its own test but if UK Border Agency officials consider that you cannot speak English without an interpreter, they can refuse you permission to come to the UK.

5. Financial requirements

The UK Border Agency plans to check information about your funds more carefully (April 2011) and aims to treat you more favourably if you come from a "low risk" country (summer 2011). We do not yet have information about which countries are regarded by the UK Border Agency as "low risk".

Advice and information

We will be analysing the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules carefully when it is published on 31 March 2011 and will send out a further bulletin to students to provide you with further information. In the meantime we would appreciate it if you could wait to ask specific questions on how the changes may impact on you and your family until after that date. Please see the Student Advice Centre web pages for current information on working in the UK and dependants: http://www.shef.ac.uk/union/student-advice-centre/international/.

Your Students' Union: Ensuring Your Voice is Heard!

Thank you to the 170 students, both home and international, who took the time to respond to our request for feedback on the impact of the government's proposals to change the student and dependant immigration rules.

We have now produced a submission to the consultation to reflect many of these views.

Please click here to download and view our response to these proposals.

Are You Willing to Help?

If anyone is willing to help out with the campaign, please email Mina Kasherova at international.officer@shef.ac.uk.

Our Submission to the Home Affairs Select Committee

Our current international students feel cheated by the proposals to close down the Post Study Work Scheme which means they will not be able to stay in the UK to work for two years after graduation.

The Students' Union has submitted written evidence to the all party Home Affairs Select Committee which is having its own inquiry into the proposed changes to the student immigration system.

Our Submission to the Home Affairs Select Committee

Protect International Students’ Rights

On 7 December 2010 the Government released its proposals for the reform of the student immigration system and launched its consultation on the reform. The overall aim of the reforms is to drastically reduce the numbers of migrants in the UK.

We’re proud of the thriving international student community at Sheffield and believe that the diversity of our student population is a key part of the brilliant experience we receive here. So we need all students, regardless of where you’re from, to take part in the actions listed below.

We believe these reforms are bad for our international student members who may lose the right to stay in the UK to work after their studies or to bring their dependants with them.

The Students’ Union will be formally responding to the proposals but we need your help in putting pressure on key decision makers to ensure that the proposals do not affect the experience of current students, or deter prospective students from studying at Sheffield.

On ways on how to act please see the links on the right under 'Ways to Act', but before doing so please read the proposals below.

Click here for more detailed information on the proposals.