Visa Worries

My dream is to study in the United Kingdom, and eventually settle there permanently. However my dreams look as if they may not be realised any time soon due to recent changes in the United Kingdom's immigration policy.

Today with a further 15 days to go in the month of March, fear has set in. Tier 4 (Students) of the tne points-based UK immigration system comes into effect on the 31 of March and I am scared. Tier 4 has become one of the scariest words in the English language for me. It means that it will become significantly more difficult to apply to the United Kingdom for a student visa than it was previously.

The main components of the scheme are as follows:

• A student must be issued a visa letter from a registered sponsor, to whom the student will be tied and whose records of attendance and academic success will be regularly checked by the Immigration authority if there are any problems
• And a surplus of £5,400 in the bank in order to prove that you can support yourself, on top of your course fees (for those studying in London it is £7200 , although I will fortunately be studying in Wales)

Now you may say that seems sensible enough, and trust me, compared to what the previous figure was (£9 000, and then £7200 ) this is not so bad, and as you can include your accommodation expenses, which must be paid upfront anyway, so the figure is more like £2 000 extra, which in and of itself is not so horrible.

I also benefit from American citizenship (although my life would be unbelievable less complicated if I had the Portuguese citizenship to which my ancestry may or may not enable me to take up) which means I am entitled to the generous aid packages which are offered students to study, and many international schools, including mine, is included in the scheme.

So all and all I don't have much to be afraid of, it just seems like the game has been made so much harder by the new rules.