As governments across the world crack down on compliance, it seems like it’s harder than ever to get a study visa.
In the UK, stricter compliance rules have fallen at the same time as a spike in refusals – with seven countries disproportionately impacted.
In Canada, study visa issuance has reached Covid-level lows. US visa issuance is also down, made worse by a backlog stemming from a weeks-long visa interview freeze.
Wherever you are in the world, it falls on government agencies to make sure that only genuine students can be granted a study visa, with officers trained to ask questions designed to weed out those applying for a visa under false pretences.
So what reasons do they give for rejecting an application? From the nitpicky to the downright incorrect, here are the weirdest we’ve heard.
- How many trees?
In a baffling decision, one student was denied a study visa because they could not name the number of trees on their chosen institution’s campus. Apparently, the university’s prospectus contained this fact and it was deemed suspicious that the student couldn’t rattle it off. Our advice? A thorough tree census before your UKVI interview. - Stop the bus
A Pakistani student was denied a visa because they couldn’t name the nearest bus stop to campus. - Hold back the river
One student got rejected because they didn’t know the name of the river that runs through Brunel University. For anyone wondering, the River Pinn flows through the London suburb of Uxbridge, where Brunel is located. - A case of mistaken identity
Another student couldn’t get a study visa because they didn’t know the name of one of their program tutors off the top of their head. Thorough or overly picky? You be the judge. - Let’s be having you
A student hoping to study in the UK was refused a visa because their UKVI officer claimed they didn’t know where their chosen institution was. The only issue? The student had said that the University of East Anglia (UEA) was located in Norfolk. Their UKVI officer said that they were wrong because the UEA campus sits in Norwich. Which is, in fact, a city in…. Norfolk.
