The Immigration Bill has been gaining a lot of attention in the press lately for its promises to crack down on people who enter the UK illegally – what has been talked about less is the effect the proposed laws will have on our International Students.

NHS                         

One proposal of this Bill is to introduce a fee to use the NHS for all non-European immigrants. This means that our International Students could be facing a fee upwards of £200 for each year of study which would be paid up front before entry into the UK.  When International Students are already paying visa fees, high tuition fees and often 6-12 months of rent paid in advance for accommodation, this would be yet another financial burden.

Landlord Checks

The second proposal that directly affects International students is the requirement that landlords check the immigration status of any of their tenants and they will face fines if they do not do this. This means that landlords may turn away International Students to avoid having to undertake these required checks and so avoid the financial risk associated with it.

As a representative of our students, I find these proposed changes concerning – I don’t believe that International Students should face these hurdles when coming to study at Imperial. However, what I really want is to hear what International Students have to say about these changes. There is a survey now live that can be found at the link below – please fill it out and let us know your views. These responses will be used to inform the Union’s stance on these issues and what (if any) action we should take.

It should only take five minutes, the link is:

https://imperial.eu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_cBhIW37PrYSISvb