UK gov’t releases new Tier 4 visa guidance

Published 20/04/2020

The UK Home Office will not take enforcement action against Tier 4 visa sponsors whose students are absent because of the coronavirus, the government has revealed in guidance published April 20.

Covid-19 related absences do not need to be reported and sponsors will not be forced to withdraw sponsorship if a student is unable to attend for more than 60 days.

“It provides welcome clarity on sponsor obligations, and on important temporary concessions for English Language testing”

This absence needs to be the result of Covid-19, and the student must intend to resume their studies, the guidance explained.

The guidance was welcomed by members of the UK’s HE sector, including UKCISA and think tank, the Higher Education Policy Institute.

“The education sector is highly compliant, and Tier 4 sponsors take their obligations very seriously,” said Anne Marie Graham, chief executive of UKCISA.

“We have been calling for clearer guidance for both students and sponsors, and this does address many (if not all) of the queries our members and international students have raised with us.

“It provides welcome clarity on sponsor obligations, and on important temporary concessions for English Language testing.”

These concessions involve the government allowing a more flexible approach to the language testing of international students.

The guidance says that sponsors who are universities with a “track record of compliance” will be allowed to self assess students as having a B1 level of English, where progression on to the main course is dependent upon passing the pre-sessional course.

This applies for students who are required to take a SELT overseas but who cannot access a test centre.

“At first glance, this looks sensible and welcome,” HEPI director Nick Hillman told The PIE News.

“The Home Office has shifted to a much more flexible approach in recent weeks and these are the sorts of changes that are essential in these odd times if we are to support our education sector and the students it serves.

However, Hillman said he doesn’t regard temporary concessions as “excessively lenient”.

“I also hope they will ease the way to a recalibrated future migration regime that better balances the encouragement of educational exports against the need for security than, as a country, we have generally managed to do over the past decade,” he added.

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