M A I N   N E W S

UK partially lifts ban on student visas
Ashok Tuteja/Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 13
Good news for students in North India wanting to go to the UK for studies.

Britain’s Minister for Business Innovation and Skills Pat McFadden today announced that from March 1 the Tier-4 visa application suspension in North India will be lifted for all students wanting to undertake higher education courses, whether foundation degrees, undergraduate or postgraduate. “The temporary suspension remains in place for all those wanting to study at lower levels. But we will continue to keep this under review and will lift it as soon as we can, and once the new highly trusted sponsor system for colleges and other educational establishments across the UK is in place,” he said.

The temporary suspension from February 1 was effected in response to a huge surge in applications over a very short period of time. The suspension of new Tier-4 applications was implemented at three application centres in North India: Jalandhar, Chandigarh and New Delhi. On February 10, UK had announced a number of changes to the criteria of Tier-4 of the point-based system, following a review of its operation.