Originally Posted by mr.fawlty

A similar system exists in Canada.

Yeah and it works so well over here too.

Mr Sheen
Parade Gloss
Turtlewax.........



.....Thats the only polish I know

Originally Posted by smartascarrots

We got briefed on this a few months ago. It sounds fine in theory, until you get to the implementation and you realise just how inflexible it is. And also what a bloody con.

They've basically handed a massive amount of work over to the sponsors in that the organisation wishing to bring an international into the UK has to do the bulk of the legwork for them. First you have to become an authorised sponsor (for a fee) with a limit on the number of sponsorships you can offer (the higher the number the higher the fee).

Then, you have to issue each applicant an electronic certificate (for another fee) which the applicant needs to receive (upon payment of a fee) and take with them to their visa interview in their country of origin (for which they pay a fee). If their visa application is unsuccessful (and we've all seen how blatantly subjective these things can be, a la Pun VC), the certificates immediately expire (oh, by the way, all fees paid to date are non-refundable).

And here's the other wrinkle. Only one certificate can be live for any applicant at a time, the certificate can only be used once, for the purpose for which it's issued, for the specific DTG for which it was issued. So if the applicant can't make it due to compassionate grounds or simply environmental factors (weather, earthquake, air-traffic controllers' strike), the certificate is no longer valid and we all have to go through it again. With, of course, the payment of the appropriate fees by all parties.

Now, you might think that well and good when someone's applying for a job - one employer, one applicant, one vacancy. In HEI, things are a bit different. We're handling a massive volume of applications for International (non-EU) Students, thousands per year, some of which might be coming into the UK specifically for the purpose of learning to speak English properly. Now to my mind, that kind of blows out the argument about needing appropriate language qualifications to enter the UK. I’m led to believe that this model is a work in progress, but the briefers left me in no doubt they didn’t have a Scooby about how this would effect us or how likely it was that the system could accommodate us.

International Students also tend to apply for more than one University, just the same as our own kids do through UCAS. But they can only get one certificate at a time and if they've applied in advance of their final degree results (again like our kids do), they’re only able to get a certificate at the last minute when they know they've met the entry requirements laid out in their offer of a place. This is all squeezing the maximum amount of work into what's already the busiest time of year for the universities, the students and the Entry Clearance Officers in country.

Tough shit, you might think. A small price to pay to secure our borders. Except that it only applies to those who use the legal route; except that it doesn’t apply to Asylum Seekers; except that Education & Training is one of the few sectors left in which the UK genuinely has a world-beating product. According to the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) report here, HEI has an income multiplier of between 1.5 and 2.52 – that is to say for every £1 spent on University fees, at least 50p is generated elsewhere. Bare minimum, in 2004-05, international students (i.e. non-EU) paid £1.5bn in tuition fees alone, not counting food, accommodation, entertainment and other basic maintenance expenses which they’re buying from UK businesses and paying for in hard currency.

So why should a student come to study in UK when it’s so damn difficult and expensive to get here in the first place, when currency exchange rates make affordability so uncertain, and when there’re plenty of places around the world where you can get nearly as good an education, in English, at lower cost and probably nearer to home? The obvious answer is, perhaps you shouldn’t. The cost/benefit equation doesn’t tip as firmly in our favour anymore.

Oh, and incidentally, the only similarity between this model and the Oz & Canuck ones is that the candidates are assessed on points. The actual implementation is far more accessible there, not to mention friendly.

You are right. The UK has always been cnuts towards students - raising visa fees to astronomical levels for no justifiable reason etc. Very odd behaviour given that international students are probably the most lucrative immigrant the country has. They are however, easy targets; no one is going to ditch their studies in the 2nd/3rd year because some incompetent govt department decided to be c unts.

I think this is a waste of money.

The previous system worked - the problem was not the processes in place. It is the standards that those processess imposed that might be said to be the problem.

As far as non-eu citizens are concerned, the UK is already one of the more difficult countries to immigrate to. The govt however, being lazy and incompetent, needs to look as if it is doing something. So it introduces nonsensical measures like a 'citizenship test' that everyone must take. Clearly, the more logical thing would be to simply go by IELTs or GCSE grades but nooooo...let's have a citizenship test.

The points system is not a magic bullet. It is simply another way of calculating eligibility. I see no reason to trumpet the change or to see its adoption as a positive measure.

The Kazakhstani Government demands a degree for any foreign bastardo working within their borders. We're a bit behind the curve, it seems...

Agree with Digi Geek totally, horse, bolted etc.
Just do the sums from when this shower came in, 5000 a month claiming asylum times how many years before Sangatte was shut? That is the known ones, let alone the ethnic groups that are happy to get here courtesy of the snakeheads and work quite happily for £250 a month to pay off the cost of getting here and not claim anything from anyone.
Then factor in the overstaying "students" that never were or going to be students, the overstaying "tourists" and it very quickly stacks up to well over 2 million.
Those are the known ones let alone the 900,000 Easties that are now legally here.
It is a matter of open source but how many Iraqis registered to vote in the UK at their election?
Anything to do with this shower of a "government" and immigration is too little and faaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrtoo late.

How many times have the government announced this 'new' policy now?

Simple point system as follows..

If you arrive at this country with out the correct paper work, simply turn them around and POINT them in the direction back home.

simple as that!

Damn: TWO people got there before me! We already have most of the world's population in the UK, except the only people that don't seem to know this are the gobment, who lost count after about 1 million NEW entries.

I suspect that this new points system will be a resounding success actually. Nobody left outside our borders, nobody left to come in . . . tadaaaaaaa! Look folks, aren't we clever!