New procedures for British visa

The British High Commission in Dhaka introduced a new procedure from January 15 for students to obtain visa in collaboration with The British Council. The British Government wants to ensure genuine students to get visa quickly for upholding the standard of their education, said First Secretary, Immigration, Michael John Holloway.

He was speaking at a press briefing at the British High Commission in the city yesterday. Kristian Sharpless, head of Press and Public Affairs, also spoke on the occasion.

They said there had been a big increase of demand for student visa in 2002. At least 4660 Bangladeshi students applied to study at UK colleges and universities and 50 per cent of them were granted visa.

Many students were, however, refused visa for submitting forged documents. "Some students were incapable to convince the visa officer about their skill in English language," said Holloway adding that "Students were also refused visa due to lack of fund to support them in UK".

The new system 'Electronic Document Checking Service' or E.DoCS will ensure genuine students to have access to a fast track visa service, they expressed their hope.

E.DoCS will enable the High Commission to provide a same-day service for students by making the decision within 24 hours.

It will also reduce the pressure of crowd at the High Commission enabling the people getting other type of visa in a short time, they added.

Through the E.Docs system, students will have their docu-ments like offer letter, enrolment certificate and other papers checked by The British Council within four working days.

Once the verification is done, the students will have access to a special channel through which they will know the decision regarding their visa on the same day.

The British Council offers the service for a fee of seven pound starling.