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On 30 June 2022, the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) published 'An inspection of the immigration system as it relates to the higher education sector October 2021 – March 2022'. It makes three recommendations, all of which the Home Office has agreed to carry out by the proposed deadlines. Sarah Rimmington, Advice and Training Officer at UKCISA, considers key findings of the report, other aspects the report covers and hopes for the future.
What are the key findings of the report?
The report highlights a number of matters:
- The 'new' points-based system has made limited changes to the Student immigration system compared with work routes, and a full review of the new points-based system would help the government and HE sector understand the impact of these changes and their benefits on wider society. The first recommendation builds on this: a review is due by next month (August 2022) of how the Graduate route has operated, including an analysis of its impact on student recruitment.
- While the Immigration Rules are more likely to use plain English as a result of the work of the Simplification of the Rules Taskforce, sponsors are required to be familiar with more sets of guidance than ever, most of which are not published until changes come into effect, or even later, usually without consultation in spite of improved communications between the Home Office and the sector. The Home Office is encouraged to consider the timing of changes to guidance and how they are communicated, particularly during surge periods.
- The Premium Customer Service Team, for which many student sponsors pay an annual fee of £8,000, has suffered from resourcing issues which have led to “a lack of consistency, inaccurate information and unclear service standards”. The second recommendation is that the Home Office, in consultation with the HE sector, undertake a review by October 2022 of the service, including staffing, training and agreed service standards. Student sponsors have already been asked for their views on the service and what they would like it to provide.
- Sponsor duties remain onerous with a perception that they are based on historical risk factors rather than a current assessment of levels of abuse. While Home Office staff may consider it unlikely that licences will be revoked, sponsors take very seriously the implications of even minor breaches. This contributes to a culture of fear within the sector, which has adverse consequences for students and staff. The ICIBI’s third recommendation aims to address this. The Home Office has agreed, by March 2023, to “develop and apply mechanisms to measure the overall compliance of the higher education (HE) sector (as opposed to the Basic Compliance Assessment process, which applies to individual institutions)”. The aim of these mechanisms is to measure the level of abuse of the Student route and to use evidence acquired during this process to assess, on an annual basis, whether the sector’s “sponsorship compliance duties are proportionate to the risk of abuse”.
What other aspects does the report cover?
By way of background information, the report provides helpful summaries of a number of immigration routes used by the higher education sector, including Student, Graduate route, Skilled worker, Global Talent, and Visitor. The Home Office does not currently engage with the sector on discussions about the Visitor route, though it is used by students and staff and has the potential to cover a wider range of applicants; for example, universities and colleges are searching for a route that would allow students based in other countries to undertake stand-alone work placements in the UK. It also explains how the introduction of the ID verification app and biometric reuse have affected the Student and Graduate route application processes, and the impact on higher education of recent problems with biometric residence permits and e-Visas. A lot of resources have gone into helping students to correct case working errors.
What are your hopes going forward?
While the report contains many positive contributions, especially in relation to engagement with the sector, it ends on a less certain note: “Home Office managers voiced concerns that new systems and improvements to existing systems may not be able to attract the levels of investment they need. One commented. “I’m worried there will be cost-cutting and we won’t get as good a new system as we want.” As the sector has already waited many years for promised improvements to the sponsorship IT system, this will be disappointing if not unexpected. However, UKCISA’s main hope is that the ICIBI’s recommended review of compliance will demonstrate that sponsors can be trusted to recruit and support their students. We would greatly welcome changes that mean that compliant sponsors can dedicate much of the time and resources that are currently devoted to monitoring and reporting on ensuring that their students receive the best experience possible during their time in the UK.
Sarah Rimmington is an Advice and Training Officer at UKCISA.
