Immigration

Toughened student visa rules could cost the UK £2.4bn over the next decade as students opt for rival study destinations, new research claims. A report from Universities UK warns that Canada and the US would likely pick up the lost business, estimated to be worth around £350 million ($537m) a year.

As the US immigration reform bill undergoes its final mark up, international educators have raised concerns that last minute amendments could derail the country’s largest work and travel exchange scheme, the Exchange Visitor Program. Concerns also remain in the HE sector about provisions, although NAFSA says it broadly supports the bill.

From 2014, Chileans could be able to travel to the USA without having to request a visa, prompting not only more tourism for America but study abroad traffic as well. The two countries are close to signing an agreement over the US Visa Waiver Program, which allows visa-free travel to the US for up to 90 days.

English UK is calling for the reinstatement of Accreditation UK as an approved body for Tier 4 visa sponsors, claiming that the de jure metric, the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI), costs three times more yet is ineffective. The Home Office says it has no plans to change tac.

New immigration statistics in the UK reveal a 9% fall in Tier 4 student visas issued for the year ending March 2013, with a decline of 46% in the FE and language sectors and the HE sector untouched. FE it seems has borne the brunt, as the fall for language schools was offset by a rise in shorter term visa issuance.

Increasing student exchange between Mexico and the USA trumped drug trafficking and immigration on US President Barack Obama's agenda during his visit to Mexico last week. Mexico ranks 9th in places of origin of international students to the US, considerably lower than other big trade partners such as China and Canada.

Nova Scotia has become the first Canadian province to regulate language schools under law. This aligns with the federal government’s requirement that all schools be "designated" by their province to recruit overseas from Jan 2014, but goes a step further, applying not just to long-term study permit visas, but also short-term visas.

Australia's reputation could be at risk from AUS$2.3 billion budget cuts to the tertiary sector, according to Universities Australia Chair, Sandra Harding. The cuts came as a particular blow to the peak body that in February announced "A Smarter Australia" campaign that committed AUS$5 million over the next five years to promoting university development including more than doubling international student numbers.

Canadian public schools voiced their concerns about bill C-35 at this year’s CAPS-I conference in Toronto, complaining that the reform was making them “jump through hoops” to recruit international K-12 students. The bill, enacted in March 2011, makes it an offence for anyone other than an “authorised representative” of the government to advise on a students’ visa application for a fee.

Border agents in the US have been ordered to verify the validity of international student visas when they arrive in the country under new security procedures made effective immediately following the Boston bombings last month, reports the AP. Access to the SEVIS system is being made available now to all airport border staff.

France's position as a top study destination for international students is "fragile" and the government must improve internationalisation in universities and the student experience to remain competitive, Higher Education Minister Geneviève Fioraso has claimed. She proposes improving Campus France and post-study work rights among other reforms.

Only 6% of non-EU students thinking about studying in the UK want to emigrate to the country afterwards, a student survey has found. The finding comes just a year after the government controversially curtailed the post-study work rights of overseas students in its drive to lower net migration.

Politicians in Cyprus have called on the government to streamline entry requirements to private higher education institutions, which cater to up to 90% of all non-EU students. They say current student visa obligations are onerous and get in the way of the island's ambitions to become an education hub in the region.

The UK Council For International Student Affairs (UKCISA) has told The PIE News that the Home Office’s new “credibility interviews” of international students are likely to be fairer than predicted, after a survey revealed serious concerns about them last month. UKCISA believes they will now mainly be used to support rather than dictate visa decisions.

A bipartisan group of the US senate has released its long awaited draft bill on overhauling the US immigration system. While the bill offers pros and cons for international students, educators will welcome a concession to increase the amount of employment-based visas for individuals holding graduate degrees in science fields by 5,000.