RFI: UK Immigration Policy

Pretty damning:

http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2016/03/23/disaster-for-theresa-may-as-legal-ruling-brings-student-depo

I probably shouldn't say too much about this off 77 but I think the vast majority were probably cheating though it's very possible honest candidates were unjustly impacted.

Also fairly sure that voice recognition, which was the public justification for the dragnet and the point at which the Home Office defence fell down at tribunal, had next to nothing to do with anything.

Well, a vague feeling that the vast majority were probably cheating was all the government had to go on, so ur in good(?) company.

Altho I'd say even the cheating candidates were unjustly impacted tbh

No. The cheating was so unsophisticated it would be very easy to detect if you were looking properly. The nature of the cheating (certain defined test centres charging a premium to read the answers out at the front) would have made it hard for honest candidates to have been accidentally caught up. However there could be grey areas where centres were offering bent and honest sessions at the same time. You could probably work out with a reasonable degree of confidence which was which but possibly not beyond a reasonable doubt.

Having the language requirement for students isn't wildly unfair but it is for families, etc. The main problem was ETS not paying attention and the government choosing an inappropriate test for inclusion.

Kind of interesting given the fact that this is hugely embarrassing to the Home Office - both painting it as incompetent in dealing with tribunals and having very little idea of what they're doing when it comes to a major policy affecting hundreds of thousands of people - that it has received such little coverage in the press.

At the moment you have a politics.co.uk blog, a brief Times Higher Education article, a paywalled piece on the FT and one article in the Independent. Everyone else, from The Guardian to the Mail, hasn't touched it afaict.

all frightened to talk about immigration because of bullying by PC liberal thugs

tories losing legal rulings right, right and centre right

idk how much of this i am reading correctly but it looks like Byron organised a special "training event" across 15 of its branches as a ruse to round up all its foreign workers so the Border Force could come and deport any without valid visas:

http://www.eliberico.com/la-policia-de-s-a-sus-paises.html

what the fuck

Henry Dimbleby (Leon owner) is the child of which newscaster, again?

My Spanish isn't so hot but I'm pretty sure Leon isn't mentioned in there.

This isn't really the right thread for this but close enough.

My uncle is dying of cancer. Probably talking days left. He was living in Thailand but came back to go into hospital as he had no medical insurance there. His partner of 10 years is a Thai citizen, and we want to get him over here so they can be together for the last time, but he needs a Visa to enter the UK and it seems to take 3 months which we don't have. We think there is some kind of fast track way to get around this but I don't know how this stuff works and there seems to be a lot of dubious websites offering Visa services and I don't know if they are trustworthy or this is even possible. We're not really talking immigration because he just wants to be able to visit for a couple of weeks.

Long shot maybe but any ideas ILX?

Is your uncle a British citizen?

Yes

VFS runs visa processing for the UK in Thailand and I think they offer a priority service. That should be the first place you look. A visa consulting agency will typically only make sure you have all your documents in order and won't necessary speed things up otherwise.

May also be a long shot but there wouldn't be any harm in calling the British Embassy in Bangkok and explaining the situation to see if they have any emergency options.

OK, thanks SV - VFS is the main one we've been looking at but like I said not sure if these kinds of things are just scams or not. They do have a priority service for £750. Says it's for medical emergencies in the family tho and not sure if an unmarried gay relationship is gonna count for that :(

We've tried ringing the Thai embassy here in case they know anything but they're closed til Monday.

I think my uncle's partner has been in touch with an embassy or consulate in Chiang Mai, my mum drafted up a letter over email explaining the circumstances for him to give them.

VFS is the official processing partner of the embassy. They are the same people you go to if you want a Russian or Indian visa in the UK. They're usually very good.

Great, thanks. Feel more at ease we're looking in the right place now.

Good luck.

UK asylum refusal decision: 'Your strong attachment to your Islamic faith is inconsistent with your claim to use lesbian dating sites ...'

https://twitter.com/Paul_Dillane/status/763326753595133954

The treatment of LGBT asylum applicants is one of the great, under-reported scandals.

awful