LinkChinese UK News

Home Secretary Alan Johnson announced on Sunday government’s new measures to crackdown student visas, which will take effect immediately. The most affected are  those enrolled in short term courses or below-degree courses.

The Guardian reports:

The number of student visas could be cut by tens of thousands under new rules making it harder for people to enter the UK, the home secretary, Alan Johnson, announced today.

Those seeking to study in the country will have to speak passable English, while students enrolling on short courses are banned from bringing dependants.

The new rules, which do not require legislation, come into effect immediately. The changes follow criticism of the government’s point-based system, that was introduced last year.

Prospective students will have to speak English to a level just below GCSE standard, treating English as a foreign language, rather than the beginner level as at present. In a move designed to protect jobs for British youngsters, students taking “below degree-level” courses will only be permitted to work for 10 hours a week, instead of the current 20.

Those on courses lasting less than six months will not be allowed to bring dependants, while the dependants of students on below degree-level courses will not be allowed to work. Student visas for below degree-level courses with a work placement will also only be granted for institutions that are on a new register, the highly trusted sponsors list.

 

Event: Chinese New Year 2010 – Year of the Tiger
Date: Sunday 21 February 2010
Time: 12 to 6pm
Venue: Central London (Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square, Chinatown)

FREE EVENT All welcome

The capital’s Chinese New Year celebrations are set to transform central London on Sunday 21 February 2010. Visitors to Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and London Chinatown will be able to welcome in the Year of the Tiger in spectacular style – with Chinese arts and entertainment from international and home-grown artists, and food, firecrackers and fireworks.

In Trafalgar Square, two groups from China (Sichuan Art Troupe and Central Ethnic Song and Dance Ensemble) will perform world-class dance, music and acrobatics after an official opening ceremony. There will also be firecrackers, Chinese dragons, lions and Chinese acrobatics.

Meanwhile, in a specially decorated Chinatown there will be cultural stalls, food and lion dance displays. Shaftesbury Avenue will become “Hong Kong in London Chinatown” with a stage featuring performances by local Chinese artists.

A colourful fireworks display in Leicester Square will close the celebrations.

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A British students, Mary-Jess Leaverland, won a singing competition in a f X Factor-style TV contest in China. The Guardian reports:

A couple of years ago Mary-Jess Leaverland was pleased to get second place in a local youth talent competition at Stroud Subscription Rooms in Gloucestershire.

Now the 19-year-old student is ­celebrating victory in a Chinese version of X Factor watched by millions.

Leaverland, from Gloucester, entered the competition during a year abroad to study for her joint honours degree in ­Chinese and music.

If you’re interested in watching Mary-Jess Leaverland in competition, you can watch some of the videos from the TV programme here.

 

The Guardian reports Conservative Party’s policies in cracking down students visas:

Conservatives to crack down on UK visas for foreign students

* Patrick Wintour, political editor
* The Guardian, Saturday 9 January 2010

A clampdown on foreign students’ visas, including requirements for some student applicants to hand over an annual £2,000 bond and a tightening of the colleges entitled to sponsor students, is proposed today by the shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling.

The Tories, who regard the student visa system as the weakest link in Britain’s border controls, would also place a ban on students switching courses in this country.

Grayling has been consulting higher education about the proposals, aware that foreign students are money-spinners for the financially pressed sector. He claims the consequence of Britain’s lax controls is “tens of thousands of bogus students in the UK and hundreds of unregulated colleges providing student visas, but little education”.

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From Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, London:

We are pleased to announce more dates in the Visible Secrets film festival UK tour, celebrating Hong Kong’s women film makers. This follows a highly successful run in Manchester’s Cornerhouse in October and November showing 14 feature films, four documentaries and three programmes of short and experimental films. We also had many special events, including special screenings featuring film directors Angie Chen, (This Darling Life), Ivy Ho (Claustrophobia) and Tsang Tsui Shan (Lovers on the Road). Films were also shown in London and Nottingham in November and December.

During January and February films from the festival will be shown in Chichester, Inverness, Northampton, Derby, Edinburgh, Dundee, Bristol, Sheffield, and London. For further information on cinemas, film times etc, visit the Cornerhouse website http://www.cornerhouse.org/visiblesecrets.

I do hope you will be able to see some of these great films by some of Hong Kong’s most talented women directors.

 

Date: 4 January 2010Time: 2:00 PM
Finishes: 5 January 2010Time: 8:00 PM
Venue: Brunei GalleryRoom: Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
Type of Event: Symposium

4 January 2010 is the 70th birthday of Gao Xingjian, the 2000 Nobel Laureate in Literature. To celebrate his birthday, a symposium will be held at SOAS, University of London, featuring a lecture by the author and the screening of three of his films. Mr Gao Xingjian is both a writer and a painter. The symposium will focus on his works and thoughts, and his contribution to fiction, poetry, drama and theatrical art, Chinese ink-painting and film, as well as his theory of art and literature.

Speakers include:

Gao Xingjian, Sinologist Noël Dutrait, Poet Yang Lian, Sinologist Mary Mazzilli, Writer Chen Maiping, Novelist Ma Jian & many more.

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The UK Border Agency has made the Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 120, regarding the 10 years settlement rule, student visas (Tier 4) and temporary workers visas (Tier 5).

10 December 2009

The latest Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules was laid before Parliament today.

The changes include the following:

* The Immigration Rules are being amended to provide that applications for leave to remain or settlement on the basis of long residence will no longer be considered at a UK Border Agency Public Enquiry Office;
* The Rules will also make provision, within the child visitor rules, to permit exchange visits by overseas students to state maintained and other schools;
* The Immigration Rules are being amended to make provision for the final phase of the roll-out of Tier 4, the student tier of the points-based system. The changes to the Rules will mean that from 22 February 2010, Tier 4 migrants will require an electronic confirmation of acceptance for studies in order to be able to score points for attributes in their applications to come to the UK; and
* The Rules will now provide for workers admitted under the previous rules for overseas government employees, to switch in-country into the Tier 5 category for temporary workers.

This Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules will be incorporated into a consolidated version of the Immigration Rules. You can find copies of all the Statements of Changes in Immigration Rules issued since May 2003.

The changes will come into effect on 1 January 2010, with the exception of the Tier 4 changes, which will come into force on 22 February 2010.

 

From BBC News:

Rules allowing non-European students to stay in the UK after attending further education colleges should be reviewed, a government advisory panel says.

The Migration Advisory Committee says it is concerned students can obtain two-year visas regardless of the standard of the teaching or degree.

The rules form part of the points-based scheme to attract and retain highly-qualified and skilled workers.

The government said it would consider the MAC report’s findings.

Immigration minister Phil Woolas said: “The points-based system is a powerful and flexible tool which means that businesses can recruit the skilled foreign workers that the economy needs, but not at the expense of British workers, nor as a cheaper alternative to investing in the skills of the existing workforce.”

 

From 30 November 2009, the UK Border Agency is introducing fingerprint checks at the border for passengers with biometric UK visas and entry clearances.

On arrival in the UK, passengers with biometric UK visas and entry clearances will have their fingerprints scanned at border control. In the majority of cases the passenger’s right hand thumb and first finger will be used. These will then be checked against the fingerprints provided in the application process.

According to UK Border Agency:

The purpose of this check is to verify that the individual entering the UK is the same person who applied for their visa / entry clearance and using fingerprints enables us to do this with greater certainty.

UK Border Agency has a frequently asked questions list on their website.

 

The UK Border Agency has responded to allegations that the points-based system is failing to stop migrants from entering the UK illegally under the pretence of being students. BBC Radio 5 Live’s Donald MacIntyre programme interviewed one immigration officer at Heathrow Airport who said that immigration officers are overwhelmed by the volume of student arrivals. He also alleged that although many of these students are entirely legitimate, but he and his colleagues are almost powerless to challenge those whom they suspect are not.

Jeremy Oppenheim, head of the points-based system at the UK Border Agency, said:

‘The points-based system means that only those colleges and schools who provide quality education and take responsibility for their students will be licensed to bring in foreign students.

‘Schools and colleges are inspected by accreditation bodies and the UK Border Agency to ensure they are genuine. Before we tightened controls, around 4,000 UK institutions were bringing in international students; this currently stands at around 2,000.

‘Anyone coming into the UK must satisfy the Border Force officer that they meet the immigration rules and will comply with any conditions attached to their visa. If they cannot, the officer can and will refuse entry.’