Immigration Law Update - December 2009

Temporary student workers under tier 4 - heightened risk warning for employers

If you employ foreign students on a temporary basis, it is important that you read this information.

Unlike tier 2 sponsors, tier 4 sponsors have been unable to use the Sponsor Management System (SMS) to issue electronic approvals (known as Confirmations of Acceptance of Studies) in relation to entry clearance applications for students. This has meant that educational providers which are approved and trusted sponsors have instead had to issue paper-based visa letters to prospective students and concern is growing that this temporary measure may have been subject to significant abuse.

Specifically there is growing anxiety amongst employers, educational service providers and genuine students that individuals may be applying to study courses solely in order to obtain a visa letter from a trusted sponsor which can then be used to secure entry clearance and enter the UK in order to work. In other instances there is concern that visa letters which have been issued to genuine students may have been intercepted, copied and sold on by unscrupulous agents and fraudsters abroad.

The review of tier 4 (see below) which has been ordered by the Prime Minister is designed in part to stem this abuse by reducing the numbers of students who are coming into the UK and restricting their right to work. The challenge faced by the government is how to do this without damaging the UK's standing as one of the world's leading providers of high quality education. It is expected that high numbers of desirable students would not come to the UK to study if they were unable to work on a part time basis. Many countries which are competing with the UK for high quality students do allow them to work.

In addition, it is expected that the Agency will embark on an aggressive enforcement drive which will see tier 4 sponsors being audited, inspected and their licences suspended if they have been involved, knowingly or negligently, in practices which may have allowed individuals to abuse the system. For instance, if they are relying on an agent overseas to recruit students and there is evidence that that agent has abused the system, the Agency will check how much control the sponsor had over the agent. If the sponsor failed to adequately vet and monitor the agent, they may be held to account.

It is also expected that enforcement teams will be carefully checking employees who hold tier 4 visas when they visit employers, either through planned review visits or during enforcement raids.

It is therefore essential to have robust systems in place to ensure that no student works for more than 20 hours a week during term-time and that, where full-time work is offered during vacations, adequate checking procedures are in place to ensure that the employer...