A University immigration advisor told one international student they had 24 hours to leave the UK – only for their stay to be extended the next morning.
The student, who we are calling Charlie, said UCL’s Student Immigration Advice team “had no sympathy” when she tried to explain her situation. One advisor reportedly told her: “I don’t care what you do… You just have to leave the country.”
She said the problem only arose because UCL failed to mark her final assignment in time for her to apply for a Graduate Visa.
Having lived in Britain most of her life, she said: “I wouldn’t call any place home rather than the UK”.
Had she followed the University’s advice and returned to her home country, Charlie faced the danger of persecution as a trans woman.
Knock-on effect of missed marking
Charlie said she was barred from graduating because her department had “forgotten” to mark one of her final assignments.
However, the knock-on effect of the delay in receiving her grade classification was that she could not apply for a Graduate Visa before her legal stay in the UK expired.
Fortunately, she learned via askUCL that the Home Office had put down an incorrect expiry date on her stay, meaning legally she should have had another two months in the UK. She proceeded to file a request to get the error amended.
Up to the moment of the phone call where she was told to leave, Charlie was in constant communication with University admins to address her missed marking.
But she said miscommunication between UCL admins made things worse, pointing to the time when the Immigration Advice team took 11 days to respond to an email – only for them to say they were still missing information from her department.
She said: “They are disconnected, like separate countries having to communicate with each other.”
'No sympathy' from UCL advisor
When Charlie received a call from a UCL student immigration advisor in September, she was told she had just 24 hours to pack her bags or face a year-long ban from the UK.
Charlie said the advisor refused to listen when she tried to explain her situation, saying: “All he wants to say is it’s my mistake.
“He had no sympathy, nothing.”
When she told the advisor she had filed a request with the Home Office amend her stay in the UK, the advisor reportedly said: “I don’t care what you do. I know what’s gonna happen. I know you’re going to get rejected and you just have to leave the country.”
A follow-up email from the immigration advisor seen by The Cheese Grater read: “You should now make arrangements to leave the UK by 5th September 2024 to avoid a mandatory re-entry ban.”
Charlie sought independent advice from campaigners at Unis Resist Border Control (URBC), who advised her not to leave the country.
The following day, the Home Office amended her stay to October, despite the advisor’s assertion.
URBC founder Sanaz Raji of Northumbria University said she spotted the first “red flag” when Charlie told her she never received a visa curtailment letter from the Home Office notifying her of the end of her stay.
Raji said: “If a student has mistakenly overstayed their visa, then the university should arrange a meeting to help work this out with the Home Office.
“But to tell the student you have 24 hours to leave the country is absolutely, undeniably wrong.”
She added: “I don’t think the University was following their own best practice procedures.”
When asked how she thought this had happened to Charlie, Raji said: “Someone did not do their due diligence on the student’s case.”
A UCL spokesperson said: “We have a duty to alert our international students to matters that relate to their visa status and this includes the possible consequences of overstaying. This ensures students are well-informed so they can take the necessary steps to remain in the UK and within the law.”
When we spoke to Charlie weeks after the incident, she was still visibly shaken.
On her experience, she said: “I get that phone call and my whole fucking life is shattered [sic].”
'Hostile environment' policy to blame, activist say
Raji said these types of incidents happen regularly in UK universities due to the hostile environment policy for migrant students upheld by successive governments.
She said: “Universities don’t care whether or not these students succeed: they’re just interested in the pound sign”.
She added even as universities across the UK are increasingly reliant on international students for their higher tuition fees, staff often remain “befuddled around immigration issues”.
Towards the end of our interview with Charlie, she received an email from UCL Student Records confirming her degree classification, allowing her to obtain a two-year Graduate Visa shortly after.
But she never received an apology from the University for her negligent treatment by the immigration advisor nor for the delay in the marking which caused the incident in the first place.
This article appeared in CG89
