universities without borders: Organizing Against the Proposed Changes to Student Work & Study VISAs

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Organizing Against the Proposed Changes to Student Work & Study VISAs

There is still time to stop these proposed changes, so get involved!

BACKGROUND

Do you know about the PROPOSED CHANGES TO STUDENT WORK & STUDY VISAS?

i) Increased financial requirements

New international students will need provide evidence that they have sufficient funds upfront (i.e. in their bank account) to cover full international tuition fees for the first year, plus up to £9,600 for living expenses - so almost £20,000 in total.

ii) Academics as Immigration Police

Academic staff will be asked to report students who miss class, fail to hand in assignments or whose "circumstances change" to the UK Border Agency. The Home Office will use "spot checks" to ensure universities are complying with the new rules.

iii) Monitoring Students' Research

Since 2007, non-UK/EU postgrad students studying science/technology must have their studies approved by the UK Border Agency as a supposed "counter-terrorism measure."

iv) Tracking Identification

All non UK/EU students will require a Bio-Metric Identification Card, as the cost of £30. Students wishing to renew their VISAS will have to supply their bio-metrics to the Home Office. Failure to keep your details up to date on the card could result in a fine of £1000.

WHAT DO THESE PROPOSED RULES MEAN?

For many, these proposed rules will:

a) discriminate against non-EU national students;

b) serve to exclude students from disadvantaged backgrounds from access to UK education;

c) dramatically reduce the number of overseas students who can attend university in the UK

d) undermine the academic freedom of the institution of universities;

e) undermine the trust that is such a vital part of the relationship between staff and students;

f) require university staff to police the activities of students on behalf of the UK Border Agency and act as Immigration Officers

WHAT CAN YOU DO?:

1) Join the delegation to No 10 Downing Street

A group of students and staff will be delivering the petition to the Prime Minister's office and will be expressing our opposition to these changes. Meet us there at 2pm with banners and noisemakers. Let's make sure they know how we feel about these changes!

2) Spread the word
- raise the issue wherever you are...if you're at a university talk to your head of department, other students and staff, and bring it up in your seminars and classes

3) Express your views

-sign the petition online: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Overseasstudent

-Write to your Member of Parliament

-Write to your embassy or overseas office

-Write to your local paper

-Contact your student union or staff union

4) Come to the next Action with UNIVERSITIES WITHOUT BORDERS
Check back here soon...

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current campaign:

AGAINST PROPOSED CHANGES TO STUDENT WORK AND STUDY VISAS

We are campaigning against the UK government’s proposed changes to student work and study visas, which will not only reduce the number of overseas students who can study in the UK, but threaten the core integrity of university education. Specifically, we oppose the onerous financial requirements for student visas, the introduction of biometic ID cards for overseas students, and the monitoring of overseas student research. We also oppose policies that would require universities to report the attendance records and academic circumstances of overseas students to the UK Border Agency. We believe these measures not only discriminate against non-EU students, but threaten the principles of academic freedom, undermine educational autonomy and breach the trust between students and teachers. We believe that education should be accessible to all.

actions!

Please let us know of any more exciting actions that we might not know of!

1) Scottish Parliament passes anti-ID scheme motion

2) Pilots threaten to strike over ID cards

3) Government reveals £30 price for ID cards

4) Protests over ID card launch Nov 25th

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1) Scottish Parliament passes another anti-ID scheme motion

On Wednesday (19th November) members of the Scottish Parliament passed a motion against the UK government's ID scheme. The motion was passed by 69 votes to zero with 38 abstentions, and stated: "the UK Government has repeatedly shown itself to be incapable of keeping personal data securely and therefore cannot be trusted with what would be the most powerful, most expensive and most intrusive database in the world; further recognises the large-scale public and political opposition to the imposition of the ID card scheme; believes that the money for ID cards could more usefully be spent elsewhere".

The debate will be available online shortly at:

http://www.holyrood.tv/library.asp?iPid=3&section=31&title=General+Debates

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2) Pilots threaten to strike over ID cards

By Ben Russell, Home Affairs Correspondent

Tuesday, 18 November 2008

The Home Secretary Jacqui Smith insists the cards will improve security. The first wave of ID cards to be issued to British citizens has prompted airline pilots to threaten a strike rather than accept the documents.

Aviation workers have warned that proposals to make airport staff register for the cards from next year would do little to improve security. The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa), which represents 10,000 of the 12,000 commercial pilots and flight engineers in Britain, said its members were being treated as "guinea pigs". Jim McAuslan, Balpa's general secretary, said the Government's "early warning system should be flashing" over opposition to the plans.

The Home Office insists the scheme will help airport workers improve security and streamline pass applications when staff move jobs. Ministers will publish draft regulations on Friday to set up a trial requiring airside staff at Manchester airport and London City airport to sign up for an ID card before they can get security passes allowing them to work there. If the regulations are approved, the first ID cards will be issued at the two airports from autumn next year as part of an 18-month trial.

Under the proposals, airport workers will be the first British citizens to be given ID cards, which are due to be introduced for young people from 2010.

But Mr McAuslan, whose union holds its annual conference at Heathrow later this week, said he would be consulting members on the possibility of industrial action if the Government presses ahead with the plans. "It may come to an industrial dispute," he said. "We would want to avoid that. We would want the Government to think again about the compulsory nature of it and think again about the whole scheme. The Government has said previously that ID cards will be voluntary but the indications are that if you choose not to have a card you will not get an airside pass."

The British Air Transport Association, which represents airlines including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, branded the scheme a "dubious PR initiative by the Government and one that fails to offer any real benefits". The shadow Home Secretary, Dominic Grieve, said: "Labour should take their heads out of the sand and abandon this £19bn white elephant which will do nothing to improve our security but may well make it worse." The Tories have pledged to scrap the scheme if elected. Chris Huhne, the Lib Dem home affairs spokesman, added: "It is no surprise that pilots are up in arms since they are one of the few groups selected as guinea pigs for this benighted experiment."

But a spokesman for the Identity and Passport Service said: "Identity cards will directly benefit airside workers – not just by improving personnel security, but also by speeding up pre-employment checks and increasing the efficiency of pass-issuing arrangements."

The timetable

*21 November 2008: Home Office issues draft rules on ID card trial at Manchester and London City airports.

*25 November: Home Office starts issuing ID cards for foreign nationals.

*March-May 2009: Regulations on trial scheme debated by Parliament.

*Autumn 2009: First airport staff to be given ID cards.

*2010: ID cards made available to young people for the first time.

*2011-12: Public invited to register for ID cards.

*2017: Vast majority of the population enrolled on ID card database.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/pilots-threaten-to-strike-over-id-cards-1023098.html

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3) ID card update reveals £30 price, fines for bad data

The second round of legislation for the ID card scheme introduces the

price, potential fines, and a new National Identity Scheme commissioner.

By Nicole Kobie, 21 Nov 2008

ID cards will cost £30 and, once you have one, you’ll be forced to keep

the registry updated on your address and other details, according to a

Home Office briefing attended by IT PRO.

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has released the details as part

of secondary legislation (http://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/downloads/NIS_Legislation.pdf ), which it will take consultation on for the next 12 weeks – so if you’re not happy, drop them a line here https://www.ips.gov.uk/identity/contact-form.asp

The cards will start to be rolled out in 2010 to young people on a

voluntary basis, but the Borders Agency is rolling out its own version

of the cards to foreign nationals starting next Tuesday, as well as to

airside workers at London City and Manchester airports in 2009.

If this round of legislation is passed – expected to happen next spring

– the cards will not be compulsory for UK citizens, but will be required

for anyone applying for a passport. The government is also looking to

make the cards a requirement for anyone requiring a criminal record

background check – such as for all airside workers or teachers – and

possibly for those applying for driving licences, though that’s not on

the cards quite yet.

Under the proposal, the cards will cost £30 until 2010; the cost after

that is still unknown. They will be valid for 10 years, like passports –

and indeed could be used as a travel document inside the European Union.

Unlike passports, however, anyone with an ID card will be required to

update the registry if any of their essential data changes – such as

their address. Failure to do so could lead to a civil fine of up to

£1,000, but the Home Office officials stressed that it was not a

revenue-raising scheme and that anyone who forgets to update their

address after a move, for example, will be simply reminded.

Those who refuse to do so face an initial fine of £125 – only reaching

the £1,000 maximum if they continue to refuse to update their details. A similar system is in place for driving licences, the officials said.

Also under the draft, once a card is expired, people will no longer be

expected to update their addresses and other details, the Home Office said. As the cards are rolled out to more people, banks and other private

companies will be able to go online to check a card’s validity, but only

after their systems have been checked and approved by the government.

The same goes for public sector organisations. They too must first prove

they have secure – and probably encrypted - systems the officials

stressed, adding that if a government organisation is turned down, the

Home Office will work with them to get their technology up to the

required level.

Such groups – both private and public sector – must ask individuals for

their permission before checking the registry. However, the Home Office and policing bodies will not require such consent when the case is in the “public interest” – such as crime, immigration and national security.

“Police and a number of specified crime prevention organisations may be able to use information on the register for the purposes of detecting or preventing crime,” Home Office spokesman San Matthews told IT PRO.

"The Identity Cards Act 2006 provides for a small number of

organisations that may request information from your record for a

specific purpose," he added. "These are the security services, the

police, HM Revenue and Customs. In each cast they will be required to

justify why they need the information."

That access, and other aspects of the cards, will be under the watch of

a National Identity Scheme commissioner who will report to parliament. That role is yet to be filled.

Click here for pictures of the ID cards http://www.itpro.co.uk/606516/photos-government-unveils-first-id-cards , and click here

http://www.itpro.co.uk/608031/timeline-how-national-id-cards-have-become-a-reality for a timeline of how the identity cards came to be.

http://www.itpro.co.uk/608535/id-card-update-reveals-30-price-fines-for-bad-data

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4) Protests over ID card launch Nov 25th

On Tuesday 25th November ID come into force for non-EU student and spouses at 12 noon No Borders South Wales will be holding a protest against this first step in a national ID card scheme at the UK Border Agency centre where they will be issued from at 31-33 Newport Road, Cardiff.

In targeting a largely voiceless group, with plenty to lose by not

complying, the government is following a familiar path for repressive

regimes throughout history. It is only through solidarity with the first

people to be 'registered' that we can hope to oppose this scheme.

By resisting the repression of migrants, we defend the freedom of everyone!

More info:

http://noborderswales.wordpress.com/2008/11/21/id-cards-welcome-to-internal-borders/

There will be simultaneous protests happening at other UKBA centres around the country, follow the above link for details.

universities without borders

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Organizing Against the Proposed Changes to Student Work & Study VISAs

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