How has this got anything to do with the EU?

[Old Greg]

Just back from a cheeky 7km wander along the coast with the dog. Happy to report that (AFAIK) I didn't see a single person illegally claiming benefits or any health tourists. I did however meet a nice chap who makes walking sticks in his spare time. He sounded a bit Scottish.

Your dog's eyes are too close together.

[d000hg]

I hope the sticks are up to all EU standards for differently-able person aids.

[Pondlife]

Outside!

Now!

Just back from a cheeky 7km wander along the coast with the dog. Happy to report that (AFAIK) I didn't see a single person illegally claiming benefits or any health tourists. I did however meet a nice chap who makes walking sticks in his spare time. He sounded a bit Scottish.

[hyperD]

polish has children? who is the father, the cuticle remover?

Outside!

Now!

[mos]

stop it!

Get outside!

Now!

polish has children? who is the father, the cuticle remover?

[hyperD]

agreed. Lets wait until there is a juicy article about pesky polish children sponging benefits. Those are worth reading and the more outlandish the claim, the truer it must be.

Non eu immigrants cheating and scamming? That just cannot be true!

stop it!

Get outside!

Now!

[mos]

It still amazes me how you all fill your heads with this tulipe and get so worked up about it. Stop reading opinionpapers. And certainly stop buying them. Switch off the TV and go outside. NOW!

Agreed. Lets wait until there is a juicy article about pesky Polish children sponging benefits. Those are worth reading and the more outlandish the claim, the truer it must be.

Non EU immigrants cheating and scamming? That just cannot be true!

[hyperD]

It still amazes me how you all fill your heads with this tulipe and get so worked up about it. Stop reading opinionpapers. And certainly stop buying them. Switch off the TV and go outside.

NOW!

[mos]

This is how the higher education system is funded now.

Youp, and you do not even need teachers! Brilliant thinking!

[mos]

How would exiting the EU have any influence on this: source: DM

The cons lost 5% of disenchanted libdem voters overnight, according to yougov. I expected cheap shots against libdems. Yet another example of media manipulation. Nobody gives a toss about the reality and about who is good, who is bad, ugly, abuser or cheater.

[doodab]

This is how the higher education system is funded now.

[mos]

How would exiting the EU have any influence on this:

source: DM

Illegal immigration over the past 10 years alone was greater than the entire Polish minority. But it does not fit the anti EU rhetoric. Everybody knows that anti immigration debate is even more hypocritical than the pro immigration one, but thats just what it is.

I always say that BA could not control their own bladder, let alone immigration.

[petergriffin]

How would exiting the EU have any influence on this:

source: DM

The truth about Britain's bogus foreign students: They work illegally, claim benefits... and one 'college' had no teachers

• Home Office blitz against migrants and their colleges is being blocked by Nick Clegg and the Lib Dems
• At a single college, 397 students with no right to work in Britain were caught earning more than £20,000 a year
• At same private college, 62 students wrongly pocketed benefits

|


The ongoing ‘significant abuse’ of Britain’s border controls by bogus students was revealed in government papers last night.

Foreign students are illegally working for five-figure salaries and claiming benefits, as well as pretending to attend courses that have no teachers.

But a detailed Home Office blitz planned by Theresa May against the migrants and their colleges is being blocked by Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats.

The revelations will further fuel the row between the two sides of the Coalition over the need to get a firmer grip on Britain’s borders.

A leaked Cabinet letter written by the Home Secretary reveals that, despite a concerted government crackdown on bogus colleges, ‘abuse of the system has evolved, not disappeared’.

At a single college, 397 students with no right to work in Britain were caught earning more than £20,000 a year – potentially depriving Britons of a job.

This suggests that, nationwide, thousands of students may be guilty of working illegally. At the same private college 62 students were found to be wrongly pocketing benefits.

Investigators also discovered that one college claimed it had 50 students but only 18 were attending classes. It had recruited 70 more to study at a campus that has no teachers.

Students were regularly found to be living too far away to attend their courses. One college in Manchester had enrolled youngsters who claimed to be commuting from Northern Ireland.



In a letter seen by the Mail, Mrs May warned the Deputy Prime Minister that ‘we need to take decisive action to protect the integrity of the system and the reputation of our education sector’.

She outlined a string of detailed policy proposals requiring Mr Clegg’s approval. These include banning foreign students from bringing their dependants with them unless they are studying for two years or more.

The move would lead to thousands fewer migrants being allowed to bring over wives, partners and children.
It comes amid evidence that, to help applicants bypass border checks, universities routinely classify almost all one-year academic courses as lasting 12 months or slightly longer. Under the current rules, this allows them to bring dependants to Britain.

Other plans include making it easier to strip universities of the right to bring in lucrative foreign students if they flout the rules.
Universities and colleges would also be required to work with immigration officers to provide intelligence on students who had overstayed their visas.

A pilot scheme at Portsmouth and Southampton Universities has led to 30 students who had remained in Britain illegally leaving the country.



But Mr Clegg and other Lib Dems are blocking the proposals, which are now locked in Cabinet stalemate.

The party has repeatedly attempted to water down controls on foreign students. Lib Dem Business Secretary Vince Cable considers the students to be vital to the success of the education sector.

Mrs May’s letter makes clear that widespread abuse continues, despite the Government stripping dozens of colleges of their licences since 2010.

The four-page letter, dated February 19, states: ‘We have ended the industrial scale abuse of our student visa system while protecting our world-class universities.

‘ our ongoing work has uncovered evidence of significant abuse of the student route by institutions acting negligently or deliberately.’

Mrs May’s plan to make it easier to remove the licences of colleges that sponsor bogus students is proving particularly contentious.

Under existing rules higher education providers keep their ‘trusted status’ even if 20 per cent of their students are later rejected by the Home Office because officials do not think they are genuine.

Mrs May wants to cut this threshold to 10 per cent.

There are 1,700 education institutions with highly trusted status. Around 105 have between 10 and 20 per cent of students rejected.

Of those, around 70 are colleges and the remainder include independent schools and universities.