MP OPPOSES VISA CHARGES FOR STUDENTS

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 28th Oct 2003

International students from the University of Surrey will echo the concerns of all overseas students studying in the UK when they meet Sue Doughty MP on Friday 7th October 2003.

Universities are encouraged to attract students from all around the world but with new Home Office plans to charge for visa applications, many fear the students will no longer come.

Students from a variety of International Societies at the University of Surrey have signed petitions expressing their opposition to the Government scheme.

Sue says; "Students from overseas who choose to study in the UK offer so much. We should be encouraging them to be a part of our community not turning them away with the high cost of visa applications. Not only have students from overseas suffered at the hands of the Home Office where processing of passports and visas has been unnecessarily lengthy and on occasion documents have been lost altogether. However, new legislation means that for many students whose period of study is more than three years they will have to dig deeper into their student loans to find another £155 to extend their visas to the end of the university term.

I will be glad to accept their petitions and will do all I can to support their campaign. Already I have raised this issue with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department, Fiona Mactaggart."