UK to review student visa application freeze by month end

The British High Commission also asserted the decision to suspend the applications from today had nothing to do with security situation and that it was purely an "operational" issue following an "unprecedented" surge in number of students wanting to go to the UK.

"The United Kingdom Border Agency's (UKBA) temporary suspension will allow it to scrutinise applications and manage the process efficiently," British Deputy High Commissioner Nigel Casey told reporters.

The UKBA would review the suspension by the end of this month, he said. The applications from three centres--Delhi, Chandigarh and Jalandhar--shot up ten times to a staggering 13,500 during October-December last year.

"This temporary measure is aimed to protect genuine students, professional agents and good education providers from anyone who is not currently going by the rules," Casey said.

"Some applicants are attempting to abuse our visa processes, but we will not allow that to happen," he added.

To a question, Casey ruled out that the suspension decision for student applicants from north India, Nepal and Bangladesh had anything to do with the security situation.

"There is no link whatsoever... this is a purely operational issue," he maintained.
He also said that licences of 100 colleges in UK  who were suspected to have not followed the rules had been suspended. Lifting the suspension would depend upon investigations by the UKBA, he said, adding affected students could consider the option of seeking fee refund.