UK Visa Delays for International Students
The United Kingdom has been one of the most popular destinations in Europe as well as in the world for international students who are looking for their undergraduate as well as graduate studies. The fact that the language of education is English helps a lot for the students to study in the UK. However, recent UK visa delays have caused many international students to miss their starting dates at their respective universities.
Abiodun, an international student from Nigeria, holds an unconditional offer to study postgraduate International Business at the University of Chester. The course was due to start on May 2 and Abiodun applied for his visa on April 11.
The UK government website advises overseas students that they will normally receive a visa decision within three weeks, but Abiodun (who does not wish to publish his last name) has now been waiting for five weeks.
He described the wait as “torturing”, saying that “it seems like we are on our own and can do nothing about the situation”.
In March, the UK government announced that “applications for study, work, and family visas may take longer to process” as it is prioritizing visas for arriving Ukrainians. Emily Merson, executive director at AIFS Abroad, a US-based study abroad provider, said the organization has approximately 95 students waiting for visas for work and study programs in the UK that begin in May and June.
“For a recovering sector, it is a disaster for us. These are hard-fought-for sales and all are paid with flights booked and housing secured,” Merson said.
It is unclear how many students are affected overall, but agents in India and Nigeria have also said the students they work with are facing delays that are particularly impacting those with May start dates.
Amar Bahada, director at Meridian overseas education consultants in India, is awaiting visa decisions for 37 students who are due to start their university courses in May. He said that visa applications are now typically taking four to six weeks, meaning many of these students will miss the start of their courses.
Similarly, Hermant Agrawal, CEO at BitTrack, an India-based agency, said approximately 50 students he works with have been waiting for almost 45 days.
Bahada said he previously advised students to use the government’s “priority” or “super-priority” routes, through which applicants can pay extra to receive a decision after five or two working days respectively.
However, the government suspended these options in March without warning.
A Home Office spokesperson told tha: “We are prioritizing Ukraine Family Scheme and Homes for Ukraine applications in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by Putin’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine, so applications for study, work, and family visas have taken longer to process.
“We are working at pace to ensure these are issued as quickly as possible.”
The UK’s visa and immigration department has been criticized in recent weeks for the long wait that some Ukrainian refugees hoping to travel to the country have faced.
Agents are worried that the delays will continue until September when significantly more international students will be planning to start university courses in the UK.
“We hope that there would be expanded capacity to deal with study visa applications come this summer as we envisage a large number of students will be applying judging from the increased number of applications across [the] board,” Awofisayo said.
In India, Bahada said many of the students he works with typically apply to Indian universities first and wait until they have heard the outcome of their application in July, before applying to international universities if they don’t get a space.
However, if visa delays continue, Bahada fears this will not give students enough time and they may risk missing the start of the academic year.
A spokesperson for the University of Chester said that the university was unaware of delays but that it was “happy to offer our support” to any students applying to the university who are experiencing challenges.
You can get more information about UK Student Visa waiting times by clicking here.