Before the upcoming January intake, UK High Commissioner Alex Ellis has advised Indian students to apply early and miss the possible visa issuance delays.
Ellis referred to her previous statements about working the visa issuance network into its original state. She delivered the news that the same has finally been achieved, and the system is no more burdened with the effects of travel resumptions.
After the setback and problems in visa issuance, due to the effect of Covid-19, the UK has not only recovered the whole machinery but cut down the processing time as well. The UK Immigration Department has successfully brought down the visa processing time to 15 days.
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Ellis admitted that certain cases take more time than the normal 15-day window, however, she also approved these delays to be correct. It is the complexity of the cases which causes the delay, and due to security reasons involved it is better to appropriate them the required time.
Apart from the early applications, Ellis urged the students to provide correct information to avoid unnecessary back and forth and eventual delays. She also mentioned UKs priority visa channel, whose turnaround time for visa processing is five days, for those who wish to expedite their applications.
According to the report of the Office of National Statistics, UK, Indian students have surpassed the Chinese contribution to the UK in form of international students.
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A hike of 273% has been recorded in the number of student visas that have been issued to Indian students in recent years. According to the data of the Bureau of Immigration, the number of Indian students going to the UK has steadily increased in the post-pandemic period. In 2021, 77,855 students went to the UK in comparison to 44,901 in 2020, and 36,612 students in 2019.
Indian Minister of State for External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, shared the figure of Indian students who went to the UK for higher education by October 2022. The figure stood at 1,20,987 students.
The overwhelming influx of international students has forced the UK government, headed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to consider taking measures and bring down the net migration rate. It is possible that the UK bans the entry of international students, except for those accepted by the top universities in the UK.
Source: The Mint
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