On 18 July, 2012, the Supreme Court approved to extend visa extension to a student Hussain Zulfiquar Alvi allowing him to continue to work in the UK. He was denied of the visa extension earlier in 2009 on the basis of guidance. However the court ruled that there was an error in the earlier decision to deny Alvi visa extension, as it was based on UK Border agency’s guidance that had not been put before the parliament, a move that is needed according to the 1971 Immigration act.   

Over 450 private institutions in UK were forced to stop accepting overseas students. UKBA said that these institutions had failed to sign up for the sponsor status from the Quality Assurance agency. The Supreme Court’s decisions on the Alvi case will open doors to many private colleges who were stopped to recruit international students into seeking compensation.

However, sources from the immigration department said that the ruling could offer opportunities for immigrant students who had their visas denied under the basis of guidance for working after graduation to appeal against the move by UKBA. The ‘guidance’ required the students to have a certain amount of money for maintenance.  Students can now appeal to the court if their visas have been denied under the basis of guidance. Sources from the immigration at Penningtons Solicitorssaid that the ruling unlocked legal paths for the foreign students who are the victims of stringent visa rules.   Although UKBA will now rectify the error by the government, previous judgments taken before on the basis of the flawed guidance will be trialed in courts.

The UKBA had suspended the license of London Metropolitan University on July 20, 2012. It had cancelled its sponsorship status on the basis of attendance records, information testing of English language of international students and the college data

In July 2012, the government was also under pressure after Home Affairs Committee protested to rule out students from the total migration count of immigrations coming into the country.

Source: Times Higher Education

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