Page 12 - ELG2207 Jul Issue 481

ANALYSIS .

PHOTO BY JACQUELINE MACOU FROM PIXABY

Visa tough times
V isa tough times

Delays and backlogs are becoming the post-Covid norm for language students
dealing with immigration services around the world, as Melanie Butler reports

reland is the latest of the major EFL students into permanent residents, is facing visas last year and expects to break the record
destinations to experience a post-Covid delays in getting such students into the again this year. However, observers report that
student visa crisis, with the Irish Embassy country in the first place. At the beginning of huge backlogs of general visa applications,
Iin Ankara, Turkey, struggling to keep up June there was a backlog of 173,000 student particularly from Latin America and the
with demand for visas. The first four months visa applications waiting for decisions, with Philippines, may slow down the process for
of 2022 saw double the number of visa a further 35,500 student visa extensions students from these countries.
applications than were received in 2019, stacking up. Unsurprisingly, the UK too has seen a
before Covid hit. According to Immigration. Refugees and slowdown in processing times for student visas,
At the end of March this year, the Citizenship Canada, the average time required from an average of three weeks to a current
Embassy there warned of ’severe delays’, with to issue a student visa is currently 12 weeks for estimated five to six weeks. According to the
applications taking an average of 14 weeks, applications received from overseas. However, UK Visa Immigration service (UKVI), this is
according to Ireland’s Justice Ministry, up from students in some regions, particularly those due to the need to prioritise applications from
eight weeks previously. in South Asia and Africa, are reporting much Ukrainian refugees, which has slowed down
In New Zealand, the visa surge has not yet longer waiting times. work in all other areas.
started, because the border will not be fully One student lobby group in Bangladesh is Most fast-track routes using the priority
re-opened until the end of July, although reporting student waiting times of five months system, which normally allow visas to be issued
controlled numbers of students have already or more, while in India, Canadian broadcaster in days, were temporarily closed in mid-March.
been allowed in. Education Minister Chris CBC found examples of students who have However, according to the Live Mint India
Hipkins claims that this gradual reopening started their Canadian degree courses online, website, a special exception has been made for
of borders will “…spread the demand for visa but have still not been able to obtain a visa six Indian travellers who can still access priority
processing and we will absolutely be able to months after face-to-face teaching resumed. and super-priority services. This means that,
give [students] a timely decision so that they In neighbouring United States, a recent for an extra cost, visas can be obtained within
can make their plans for 2023. Some might Senate hearing was told that numbers of four days and one day respectively.
just squeeze in for this for the second half international students enrolling in American Normally none of this would have any
of 2022.” universities had fallen 7% between 2016 and impact on English language students, who
In Australia, which opened its borders last 2019, while numbers going to Canada had can enter the UK for up to six months using
December, visas for English language students increased 72% during the same period. a standard visitor visa. However, according
are now taking up to 78 days to clear, according While US officials admit that visa backlogs to Relocate Magazine, ‘Even straightforward
to information on global visa processing times have grown in part as a hangover from Covid, visitor applications are now taking six to eight
published on the Ministry of Internal Affairs embassy closures and immigration bans from weeks to process, regardless of the urgency.’
website. The time lag from visa application to the Trump era, they say two-thirds of visa The visitor visa took its toll on attendees at
decision rises to a maximum of seven months centres are now back up and running, and the the recent Iatefl conference as well, who were
for undergraduate students, eight months for system should be at full capacity by the end only permitted to apply for their visa 14 days
PhD candidates and up to a full year for those of 2023. before the conference began. After submitting
wishing to enrol in vocational colleges. The US government has promised to their online visa applications, they received
Meanwhile, Canada, which is busy designing prioritise student visas this summer, pointing emails informing them that the average time
a new way to fast-track its international out that it issued a record number of student for issuing a visa was now 28 days.
12 July 2022