UK 'doing everything' to resolve visa delay for students
Published on: Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Kota Kinabalu: The British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur said it was in constant contact with UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) over the issue of delays in the Tier 4 student visa process this year.In a Facebook post few days ago, the High Commission apologised for inconvenience caused by the delays.It said although it does not handle visa applications, it was in constant contact with UKVI "which is addressing the issue urgently."ADVERTISEMENT A Home Office spokesperson assured that UK remains committed to delivering an excellent service for their visa customers in Malaysia. "This is our busiest time of the year and in recent weeks it has not been possible to process all student visa applications from Malaysia within our usual time-scales."We are doing everything we can to resolve this and can confirm the vast majority of student visa applications from Malaysia are currently being decided within our service standards. "Almost all applications which had not been decided within our usual time-scales have now been processed and applicants will be notified that they can collect their visas within the next few days," said the spokesman.ADVERTISEMENT It was reported last weekend that some UK-bound students and their parents from Sabah were in a fix over delay in the processing of visa applications and return of the applicants' original passports and documents after submission to VFS Global Office.Weeks of delay for visas to be returned meant that the students had missed their first few weeks of class.
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"We have also heard from other agents and UK colleges that passports have been lost as well," Executive Director of IEC (Education Consultancy for Further Studies) Jasmine Leong reportedly said.A similar situation, she said, happened two years ago where a passport went missing in the hands of VFS Global and the student was called to request for a police report (after confirming that VFS had lost it).She lamented the stress they had to go through in getting the police report done and reapplying for the passport.A frustrated parent said she was at a loss about what to do next as her 18-year-old son's passport had yet to be returned to him."Until today we don't dare to buy (his) ticket. Our calls also have gone unanswered," she said.She is even thinking of applying for her son's student visa in London but still without her son's passport returned he will not be able to travel."Some have advised me to report it has been lost and apply for a new passport, and then go to London," she said but unsure if this could be done.She added it is unfair that such delay has caused children to miss class in their university."Many parents are worried that their children are late to report to their university. We don't know what to do and how long more to wait," she added.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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Other parents said the High Commission should at least allow the students on tourist visas to be converted into student visas later instead of leaving them high and dry.They fear the students may miss classes as the new semester is starting soon. - Leonard Alaza