Studying abroad: the helpless youth in the policy

Britain has tightened its visa policy, and many universities are worried about the decrease in the number of international students. (BBC UK Network)

According to the data of British Home Office, from June 20 10 to June 2018, 15 18 China students were deported by British immigration authorities and sent back to China. It is understood that most of the students who were sent back to China illegally lived in the UK after their student visas expired and their extensions were rejected. Most of them have been in Britain for many years, and some of them have extended their visas once or twice.

With the intensification of the financial crisis and debt crisis in Europe and America, western developed countries, as the main destination countries for studying abroad, have implemented new policies in the field of international education to protect employment, which makes it more difficult for international students who want to develop locally after graduation to apply for jobs and renew their contracts. Many students choose to take risks and stay illegally after their visas expire. Statistics from many countries show that the proportion of international students illegally detained is increasing. Behind this, there are hardships and helplessness.

Young students may not be able to grasp the changes in the world. They crossed the ocean just to find a bright future in their dreams. However, in the frequent policy changes, they can only follow the trend. They are lawbreakers, but they are also "weak". Will "forbearance" usher in a promising future in despair, and where will the helpless youth be placed?

120,000 immigrants "disappeared" in the UK, pushing the New Deal to tighten the visa for studying abroad.

After the new British government took office, under the pressure of the high unemployment rate in China caused by the economic crisis, it began to tighten the immigration policy and introduced immigration restrictions for non-EU economies to protect the domestic job market. At the same time, the British side believes that more and more illegal immigrants use the channels of studying abroad and fail to return to China after obtaining visas to the UK. Illegal detention of students mainly puts pressure on the low-end labor market in Britain.

The Home Affairs Committee of the House of Commons of the British Parliament issued a report saying that up to now,124,000 asylum seekers and immigrants have "disappeared" in the UK, including 26,000 people whose visas have expired but have not yet left or renewed, including overseas students.

Therefore, the British government has issued a series of new policies for studying abroad visas, such as canceling the PSW visa (which is issued to international students with bachelor's or master's degrees, allowing them to find jobs or conduct business activities in the UK for two years after graduation), raising the admission threshold, tightening the visa extension, and allowing international students to leave the UK on time after completing their studies.

However, the effect of these policies remains to be seen. Wang Guannan, an international student from China who is currently studying at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said in an interview that it is much more difficult to find a "good" job abroad than at home, so even within the validity period of the PSW visa, most international students choose to return to China for employment as soon as they graduate. Especially in recent years, the unemployment rate in Britain has remained high, making it more difficult for international students to gain a foothold in Britain. According to the data provided by the British Home Office, since the implementation of the new study visa in April 20 1 1, the number of foreign students applying for visa extension in the UK has dropped significantly.

"There may be some people who choose to overstay, but it should not be the rational choice of most people, because once they have a bad record, it will be difficult to go abroad in the future. I think the biggest incentive should be the higher wage level in the UK. " Wang Guannan also said that overstayers are unlikely to work in big companies, because big companies usually have very strict supervision mechanisms, so they usually choose to work in Chinese restaurants and Chinese medicine shops.

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? The policy hovers between admission and withdrawal, and the overdue detention rate of Australian students quadruples in three years.

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Australia's international education industry is facing a serious impact, and the media is worried that the advantages of studying abroad industry will gradually lose.

Australian media reported that the overstaying rate of Australian students has more than quadrupled in three years. According to data from the Australian Immigration Department, more than 8,300 international students stayed in Australia after their visas expired or were revoked in the last fiscal year, a significant increase compared with 6,800 in the last fiscal year. In 2008, this figure was only 1.900. The data also shows that the Immigration Department cancelled 6.5438+0.5 million student visas in the last fiscal year, while the average number of cancelled visas in the previous five years was only 7,700. The vast majority of students in the two data-47% and 45% respectively-are higher education visas and VET students. Nearly half of the students whose visas were revoked (43%) were Indian students, 1 1% were China students, 6% were Korean students, 4% were Malaysian students and 3% were Nepalese students.

Beattre, an expert in immigration law, said that the sharp rise in the illegal rate of international students is directly related to the recent changes in laws and regulations on skilled immigration. On February 20 10, Australian Immigration Minister Chris Evans announced that in order to prevent people who study low-value courses from taking advantage of loopholes and tighten immigration policies, the visa requirements for applying for immigrants will be greatly increased, mainly for courses such as chefs, hairdressers and business courses. As a result, about 654.38+10,000 international students who applied to Australia when the immigration policy was relaxed could not obtain permanent residence visas due to policy changes.

A Sydney immigration lawyer said that although the strict immigration policy shattered many international students' dreams of obtaining permanent status after graduation, they may choose to stay in Australia illegally after graduation. "They are not going to leave. They came to Australia only to immigrate. They spend a lot of money but can't immigrate. They will be very angry. "

Beattre, former chairman of the Australian Refugee Council, said that these students "came for the immigration guarantee made by successive Australian governments, but this guarantee was shattered. They were demonized as people who exploited loopholes in the immigration system. What should I do if the rules suddenly change in the middle of a sports competition? And this is the situation faced by international students. " ?

Near a university in Rimendong, Seoul, students are passing by the grocery store in China. Because many China students live in this area, many restaurants put up Chinese signs. (Korean Chosun Ilbo)

International students from China and South Korea are worried about becoming "financial resources" for local universities.

1992 after China established diplomatic relations with Korea, Korean students began to study in Korea. By the end of last year, the number of international students in South China had reached 59,490, accounting for 70% of the total number of international students (83,842). 1999, the number of students studying in China was only 1 182, a 50-fold increase in just 10. The reason for the sharp increase in the number of international students in China is that local universities, which are in crisis due to insufficient students, actively recruit international students from China. Some universities with operational difficulties blindly expand the number of students from China, so the number of students from China who do not have the basic strength such as language has surged.

Among these international students from China, some students gave up their degrees and became illegal residents. According to the statistics of the Korean Ministry of Justice, as of February 20 10, there were 63216,000 Koreans who came to China through study visas and language study. According to the Ministry of Justice, 1 1.8%(7435 people) are illegal residents. This ratio is higher than that of Mongolia (1 1.3%). In order to manage students, some universities expel students who have failed for two consecutive semesters, are often absent from class, disturb the class order and have poor grades. But instead of returning to China, they transferred to a nearby university and stayed in Korea. A related person from Chungbuk University said, "If you are expelled from the school, your student visa will be invalid and you should return to China. But some universities will accept students as long as they pay tuition fees, regardless of whether they have a visa or not. Therefore, they stayed in South Korea as illegal residents. "

? New Zealand Ministry of Labor: Most of the overstayers of Chinese visas are international students. According to a survey conducted by the New Zealand Department of Labor, the number of overstayers has decreased year by year since 2004. Most overstayers hold tourist visas before their stay, while those who stay in China hold study visas.

The survey shows that the number of overstayers in New Zealand from Asian countries has decreased significantly, which may be due to the decrease in the number of short-term immigrants from Asian countries. However, overstayers from China are an exception, because 36% of overstayers with China passports hold student visas, while the number of those with tourist visas has decreased to 32%.

The illegal detention of some international students is "tacit", and China Student Wang is one of them. She paid about NZ $40,000 to AUT University within two years to complete her undergraduate degree in accounting. The school accepted her money and allowed her to complete her studies during her illegal stay in New Zealand. However, because her visa expired during her study, she was told that she could not graduate from the school before graduation, and she herself was sentenced to deportation for illegal detention. After several times of communication and consultation, the school finally awarded her a degree as a "special case".

Afterwards, the New Zealand immigration regulatory authorities accused the Immigration Bureau of this unfair decision. Because of this incident, the Immigration Bureau decided to repatriate this international student just to give the school a slight warning. Huo Jianqiang, a New Zealand Chinese Congressman, commented that this incident will damage the international image of New Zealand's education exports, including in China and Asian countries.

Policymakers always have reasonable reasons when formulating policies, but when the influence of policy changes is implemented in concrete reality, it may cause an inflection point in students' lives. Remind students not to use the future as a bet to try their best, but at the same time, the humanization of the decision-making process may also be concerned. (End)