UK offers premium visa services to PSE institutions
July 24, 2013
The Home Office in the UK has begun offering institutions a “premium” immigration service at a cost of £8,000 a year that includes a dedicated account manager, and allows universities to request early checks of the immigration status of potential students. Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, raised concerns that “the premium service would adversely affect smaller institutions because they would have to pay the same fee as a university with thousands of international students.” The government has been running a free pilot of the service since March, in which 138 institutions took part. So far, 20 institutions have signed up for the paid service. Times Higher Education
