UK bans 1,900 Indian banks for student visa

London: Britain on Tuesday published a list of nearly 1,900 banks in India — most of them cooperative — whose financial statements will not be accepted for student visa purposes, a move that is set to affect thousands of Indian students wanting to study there.
The new list has just 85 banks operating in India whose statements will be accepted for purposes of student visas. As part of the application for student visas — Tier 4 under the points-based system — applicants have to show evidence of possessing the necessary funds to pursue a course of study and live in the UK for the duration of the course.
From November 24, if any applicant provides bank statements from the listed nearly 1,900 Indian banks showing they have the necessary funds, the application will not be considered. The list includes banks operating in many states in India.
The list of banks whose statements will not be accepted are categorised as ‘Cooperative banks — scheduled urban cooperative banks’ and ‘Cooperative banks — nonscheduled urban cooperative banks’. Official sources said the visa officers will accept statements from student visa applicants from “international banks, or national banks with a UK private banking presence, or regulated national/state banks that provide a core banking service”.
The home office also published a list of 85 banks operating in India whose statements will be accepted for purposes of student visas. This list of banks includes ‘Scheduled commercial banks’.
The drawing up of approved and non-approved list of Indian financial institutions for student visa purposes means that applicants who have accounts in banks mentioned in the non-approved list will have to open accounts in the 85 banks mentioned in the approved list before applying for the student visas.
A home office statement said: “The list forms part of the reforms to the student immigration route. The change is to ensure that we can verify that student visa applicants hold the required maintenance funds to support themselves and pay for their course in the UK.”
Verification checks are made on the basis of documents provided with the student visa application but there have reportedly been many cases when such checks have not been “satisfactory”, particularly from cooperative or smaller banks.
The statement added: “An unsatisfactory verification check means that the institution does not respond to or provide a reliable response to our request for information, or we are unable to contact the institution.” PTI
Indians hit hard as Oz cancels 15,066 student visas
Melbourne: Australia has cancelled 15,066 student visas of foreign nationals for breaching visa conditions and over 3,000 face deportation for flunking subjects, with Indians among the hardest hit, reports said.
The Immigration Department has already cancelled 15,066 foreign student visas in the past year, a 37% spike from the previous year. About 3,624 students are facing deportation for flunking subjects or missing classes and a further 2,235 visas were cancelled on students who quit their original courses and were working illegally, in some cases in brothels, The Daily Telegraph reported.
The report said that one in every five international students is Chinese, while one in every six is Indian. The majority of international students were placed in New South Wales and Victoria. The report said that Indian students have been hit the hardest while Chinese students fared better as they were less likely to be studying for a trade. Under the new rules, University graduates will have the right to work here for two years after they graduate, leaving vocational training students to wait on a second tranche of changes, due next year, to find out where they stand. Of the 332,709 international students in Australia in June, more than half were studying at university, while a third were on vocational training visas studying diploma courses.
To receive a visa, students must be enrolled in a course and show they can pay tuition and living costs and meet health and English language tests. PTI