MIRPUR (AJK): The UK Government recently introduced changes to the student visa route, says an official press release issued here on Wednesday.
These changes were designed to reduce the abuse of the student immigration system by those seeking primarily to work and also to protect legitimate students from being misled by questionable institutions, the release issued by the British High Commission said.
However, since this announcement unscrupulous visa agents in Pakistan are taking advantage of prospective students by offering help with non-genuine visa applications while at the same time charging large sums of money for the service.
The official press release continued that these agents are offering incorrect advice to applicants resulting in incomplete or wrongly completed applications being submitted.
This causes delays to visa applications and in most cases applications are rejected. In some cases false documents are submitted by these agents risking a 10 year ban on travel to the UK by the applicants.
Our advice remains that applicants do not need an agent to make a UK visa application. If applicants want to take additional help, they should choose an agent carefully.
Agents should charge a reasonable fee and they should not make any guarantees about a visa application as they have no influence over the decision. We ask that applicants report cheating agents to the police.
The current and forthcoming Points Based System Tier 4 rules for student visa can be found on the UK Border Agency website. http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
The UK recognises the important contribution Pakistani students make to the UK and we want to encourage genuine students to come to the UK to study.
The UK?s immigration system within Pakistan has improved hugely over the past year.
The most telling statistic is that at the beginning of 2010, the average time for issuing a visa was between 8 to 12 weeks. Today we are issuing most visas within customer service target times of 15 days.
To ensure that applications are processed as quickly as possible we ask that students carefully follow the appropriate guidance filling out the application form fully and supplying all the relevant information. To avoid delays applicants can also apply for a visa up to 3 months prior to their intended date of travel, it added.
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