I am in no doubt that this is indeed a factor,it makes no sense at all to treat, for instance Russian and UK tourists differently, in the rules for the issueing of visas.
Alan

The 2 month rule doesn't apply only to British visitors does it ?

Not too sure, but there was talk earlier re Russians getting visa on arrivals

13,500 Indians applied for student visa's in the last year to enter the UK, compared to just 1,800 the previous year. How many were accepted or rejected I don't know, however the government is introducing new rules preventing foreign students, on shorter courses, from bringing their families with them, and they must also be at GCE level standard of spoken English.
I wasn't even aware we had become such an easy touch that they could bring family when they come here to study.
Family who start school, use the NHS, benefits, housing, marry a British citizen, and then have a right to stay (and do).
Is it co-incidence that just as we are implementing a harder criteria for Indians to enable them to come here on these visa's, that the Indian governmentn introduce rules of their own? Tit-for-tat?
Just a thought.

Time for few facts I think - yes, the number of people from outside of the EU applying for student visas has massively increased this year and not just from India - at the University that I work for the greatest increase in applications has come from Africa. The vast majority don't stand even the smallest chance of getting offered a place and hence have no chance of getting a student visa which is only issued if the applicant can prove that they have been offered a place. And all universities have become a lot more cautious about who they offer a place to because of the increasing numbers who never actually showed up to take up their offer of a place.

We, like most Universities, have been implementing much more stringent rules than the Government is now imposing because of this, including that they have to demonstrate tht they have a good enough level of English to be able to participate in classes - this requires more than just the equivalent of a GCSE and that all fees have to be paid up front. And for a UK university this is likely to around £7,000 -15,000 a year depending on the type of course. The most likely explanation for the huge increases in applications is the growth in 'consultants' back in the home country of such applicants who persuade them to handover large amounts of money in return for getting them a college/university place plus visa and then turn around and scarper when the promised visa is never forthcoming because their application has been rejected. The people who are being ripped off here are the hopefuls who never stood a chance of being able to come to the UK but have paid out a lot of money to an agent or middleman to 'process' their application for them. It's unlikely in the university sector that these new measures will have much effect on the actual number of people coming over to study here but hopefully the publicity surrounding them will make it much clearer to potential applicants that they are wasting their money going through one of these 'agents'.

As for bringing over dependents (not just family) then they have to already prove that they have financial support for them - people on a student visa are not able to claim UK benefits, nor are their spouses allowed to work here (the terms of their visa do not include a work permit), they are not eligible for UK council housing and we as a University are expected to provide them with accommodation for which they are charged a commercial rent, they will receive emergency hospital treatment if necessary but generally they are required to prove that they have insurance cover for anything else. About the only thing that they do get free is being able to register their kids at a local school but they get very little else. As for those who are single and looking to marry a UK citizen, ask any UK citizen who's tried to get residency rights for a spouse of another nationality and they'll tell you all about the hoops they've had to jump through to get it.

The 'educational' institutions that these measures are really aimed at are not the bona fide universities and colleges - we've been much tighter on this for years - but the commercial and private language schools that have jumped on a very lucrative bandwagon of charging very high fees and offering places to anybody who applies with no real checks on how genuine the applicant is and who've never been bothered about following up the 'no shows', much less shopping them to the immigration authorities (as we do to the few who slip through the net) when they don't turn up to register. As far as the law is concerned, this has always been a grey area bordering on the illegal and all the new regulations do is clarify the situation for potential applicants and push the dodgier operators out of business by ensuring that the private sector enforces more stringent rules in the first place.

SM

Ooops! Edited for spelling mistakes - perhaps if I wasn't already a UK resident I wouldn't have got to study here because my written English isn't always up to scratch

Here's another fact I think ! The 2 month rule applies to everyone . It was introduced because of the involvement of Americans in the Mumbai terrorist attacks or so I am led to believe.Nothing to do with Goa particularly and not anything to do with property ownership issues or long stay residents.

Yes, I do know numerous UK citizens who have married and needed to prove that they have adequate financial support to allow their new bride/ bridegroom to stay in the UK. I also know some who haven't been able to.
One friend had to get their own mother to fax her personal financial details, (and to act as security), before their spouse was allowed to come to the UK.
It always comes down to money doesn't it? It does talk.

Anyway, as I said 'just a thought' that it could be co-incidence.
The new 2 month rules probably do apply to all nationalities. However in the newspaper article, the minister made it clear that he was referring to the British 'doles', when he had his rant about wanting 'genuine tourists'.

With regard to the Russians getting their visa on arrival and the others not, I did read that this was going to change. Someone suggested the Russians get this privelage because the Indian Embassy is in Moscow, there is only one of them in the whole country and it doesnt have the computer infrastructure to support visa applications there. I guess that in the UK we are never more than a couple of hours away from a visa office, in Russia you could travel for 2 days.

I'm sure there are many posters on here who stay considerably more than two hours from a visa office
Alan

Lester makes a very good point though.

hi you all...this has been a great read and very educating....tweetie

here's something i was told on holiday last week - and i'm only repeating what i was told! Russian tourists get a free visa. has anyone else heard this?

My understanding is - they get a visa on arrival, the cost of which is included in their ticket price.

My understanding is - they get a visa on arrival, the cost of which is included in their ticket price

What a great idea.Shame they cannot apply it to us.
Please forgive my sarcasm.

British will be lucky to get 90 days next season and you'll probably have to provide a DNA sample for that.

British will be lucky to get 90 days next season

although to be fair, there is no actual evidence to support that ... it is only supposition at this stage. It hasnt been formally stated anywhere.
Chilly

Spaldy is trying hard to put the boot in at every opportunity! What's fact got to do with it !!!

I think someone reported somewhere on this forum that they had only been given a three month tourist visa ? Judging by the remarks of the esteemed tourism minister regarding 90 days being sufficient, I for one would not be at all surprised, if in fact, the national goverment did indeed reduce it to 90 days, with of course, no reduction in price !
Alan

Your in denial Davewales.
Was the 2 month gap formally stated??
90 days next season wait and see.

I think someone reported somewhere on this forum that they had only been given a three month tourist visa ? J

yes Gramps but this isnt anything new... my son got a 3 mth visa a year or two ago..... it has happened before. but then last week another person I know got a year visa ....

... I agree Spaldy it is likely to, or may happen eventually, or is at least a possibility,,,, but there is nothing so far saying it will and i feel it is just alarming people unnecessarily who are already worried about their situation for next year... the 6 mth'ers the twice a season people, those that live here..... lets stick to the facts those are bad enough after all

...and YES the 2 month gap WAS and IS formally stated ...on the Foreign office travel advisory website, IHC and various other places (albeit without sufficient warning i agree)

Chilly