2nd February, 2009

Schools, universities and colleges who want to educate foreign students, and are yet to submit their application for a sponsorship license under Tier 4, need to get their skates on. Applications must be submitted to the UK Border Agency (UKBA) by close of business today in order to be processed in time for launch of Tier 4 of the new Points Based System (PBS) at the end of March.

The PBS was created to manage the number of people coming to the UK to work and study in the best interest of the economy. Under Tier 4, schools, colleges and universities must have a license to educate non-EU students and must pledge to take responsibility for their compliance with UK immigration laws.

Educational institutions are required to monitor their international students and report any unauthorised absences or if a student fails to enrol for their course to the UKBA. This will stop individuals abusing the system by not turning up for their registered course. The new approach will also weed out bogus colleges who abuse the system.

The UKBA believes the new system will allow Britain to continue to recruit good students from outside Europe while cracking down on those who seek to abuse the system. Phil Woolas, border and immigration minister, is quoted on the UKBA website saying: “The new student tier of the PBS will ensure we know exactly who is coming here to study and crack down on bogus colleges.”

Tier 4 completes the rollout of the PBS, which has been progressively introduced over the last 12 months. More than 800 schools, colleges and universities throughout the country have already signed-up for the scheme. The Smooth Group successfully assisted Blake Hall College with their Tier 4 sponsorship registration in December. For further details on assistance with your registration, please contact Hanneke Oosthuizen at info@mysmoothgroup.com or call 0845 644 1871.