ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis desirous of visiting the United Kingdom will now be able to apply on-line, opt for priority processing, but the students will face stricter controls, show more money and higher language proficiency.
High Commissioner of UK Adam Thomson said Pakistan was the fifth largest recipient of British visas and the changes applied to the visa regime were global and not specific to the country.
"Our relationship is too important to allow fraudulent behaviour to tarnish genuine travellers," Thomson said while briefing media persons about the UK's new visa regime.
Among the changes, two relate to Pakistan only and include online facility from May 1, and priority visit visas from April 1.
"We are working hard to further improve the level of customer service," he said and added it would help clamp down on visa abuse and protect genuine travellers to the UK.
He said last year, 150,000 Pakistanis were given visa, of which 6,000 had applied for asylum. He, however, said the British Government was in contact with the Government of Pakistan, which had assured zero tolerance and was committed to end abuse.
Denying any changes in the visa fee structure, he acknowledged that these were quite high for various categories. He said these were globally the same and were actually subsidized to cover the high cost of processing.
He dispelled the impression that the visa processing at Abu Dhabi was in any way slowing down the process.
"On the contrary, we have a higher than average global turn around time of about 5-7 working days processing for Pakistan."
Ambassador Thomson said this year the UK has implemented stricter controls to help protect students from less reputable institutions and mentioned that last year, 30 per cent student applications were rejected due to high level of fraud and deception.
He said the changes from April 6 include fixing the maximum time limit of five years for study at bachelors and masters level, with exceptions for those doing a PhD, and certain longer courses.
There have been changes in maintenance levels. For applications made on or after 6 April 2012, the maximum accommodation deposit that will be taken into account against Tier 4 maintenance requirements, will be 1000 pounds sterling.
An increase in the amount of money that a student needs to show to demonstrate that they can afford to live and study in the UK has increased from 800 pounds per month in inner London to 1,000 pounds per month, and from 600 pounds per month in outer London and rest of the UK to 800 pounds per month.
Ambassador Thomson said similarly there would be some changes in language skills with higher proficiency requirements.
The Priority Visa for fast tracking of visit visa would cost Rs 8400 more, would be processed in two to three days, however the applicant must have travelled to the UK in last two years. The service would not guarantee the success of applicant.
The Ambassador when asked about the abuse of the system by fraudulent visa agents, said the people do not need to go to them.
"If you are a genuine traveller, you need to come in directly," he said and dispelled the myth that a larger number of applications are refused. He pointed that 74 percent applications were approved last year.
The overseas domestic workers will be restricted to only work for the employer with whom they entered the UK. The right of settlement for all migrants in this category has been removed, with their stay limited to a maximum of six months.
The skilled migrant workers coming to the UK, under Tier 2 (to which leave of six years is granted for those who entered after April 2011), will no longer be able to settle in the UK, simply based on amount of time they spent in the country.
A new minimum pay threshold of 35,000 has been introduced to ensure that only the brightest and best workers, who strengthen the UK economy, will be able to apply to stay in the UK permanently.
The new rules are aimed at breaking the link between coming to the UK to work and staying forever and only exceptionally talented people, investors and entrepreneurs will continue to have the option
to stay.