UCL International Students Visa Pressure Group

Professor Malcolm Grant,
President and Provost,
University College London

Dear Professor Grant,

We are writing to draw your attention to the serious difficulties faced by many International Students due to the early expiration of Student Visas as a consequence of administrative errors by UCL.

Most postgraduate programs at UCL indicate durations of one calendar year from September to September, whereas, numerous official visa letters issued by the university supplied dates from September 28, 2009 to September 15, 2010. You will notice that this is thirteen days shy of a full calendar year. For this reason alone many International Students across multiple departments have been issued visas lasting only fourteen months instead of sixteen months, the latter representing the norm as per UK Border Agency guidelines for one year Masters programs.

In order for us to continue our stay beyond the second week of November, we need to convert our Student Visa into a Post-Study Work Visa under Tier-1. But, as you must be aware, the final decision on grades will not be awarded until the Board of Examiners convene in the second half of October and have been processed by the Exams Office; a process we are told that can take three weeks. The administration teams within the departments have not been able to provide us with a guarantee that the results will be dispatched to the Exams Office and processed prior to the expiration of our current visas on November 15, 2010.

It has been suggested to us that we should return to our native countries and apply for a Post-Study Work Visa once the Certificate of Award has been issued. However, this leaves us with a wide set of problems, the most pertinent of which we would like to highlight below:

Firstly, with the uncertainty of our right to work and remain in the UK past November 15, 2010 many are unable to pursue career opportunities with the prospect of being forced to leave the country when our visas are due to expire. This we feel, in a way, defeats the very purpose of pursuing post-graduate education from one of the best universities in the world.

Secondly, the cost differences between applying from within the UK versus from abroad are significant. In addition to unnecessary travel expenses, the application for the Post-Study Work Visa requires that foreigners display a maintenance fund of £2800 in a bank account for 90 days; a difference of £2000 if the application were filed within the UK.

Thirdly, we will also encounter difficulties or penalties regarding relocating or renegotiating housing contracts in London. This serious problem is compounded for those who live in halls of residence with contracts ending the first week of September who will be faced with the difficult decision of whether or not to enter into a private residential contract, if indeed such short-term contracts can be found.  

Finally, the impact this situation has had on our dissertations and research cannot be overestimated. Every student signing this letter can confirm the distraction and stress caused over the last few months by the uncertainty of this future dilemma for which no one was prepared.

We have also come to learn that the UK Border Agency’s officials have not been uniform in applying their guidelines. Some of our classmates, whose admission letters have the same course duration printed on them, have been offered sixteen-month visas. This is inexplicable to say the least.

We are, therefore, requesting that you intercede on our behalf and see that we are provided with an extension to our existing visas to allow for a waiting grace period until the grades are returned, or that our grades be expedited through both the Examiners Board and the Exam Office so that we may be issued our Certificate of Awards before November 15, 2010.

Although this issue has been brought to the attention of the university through the relevant channels the issue remains unanswered and, unfortunately, time is running out for many of us. Having already paid a premium to attend a premier UK university we do not believe that we should have to endure further expense, or worse, the loss of employment opportunities for a problem that is no fault of our own.

We hope that you can sympathize with our predicament and will help us by rectifying the situation so that we may pursue the opportunities we were led to expect upon completion of a Masters with University College London.

Sincerely,

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