‘500 Hong Kong students’ face visa delays and risk losing places at British universities
UK Home Office says it is looking into the matter; local lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen says he will take the matter to the British consulate
The number of Hong Kong students at risk of losing their school places at British universities because of visa delays has more than doubled from 220 to 500 in a day, a legislator from the city revealed on Saturday.
Education sector lawmaker Ip Kin-yuen said the situation was more serious than expected.
On Friday, Ip disclosed that at least 220 students had contacted him for help because they had not received their UK visas.
Visa delays put Hong Kong students’ places at British universities in jeopardy
A day later, Ip said there were now at least 500 students still in Hong Kong, unable to travel to the country in time to start the new school year.
The cause of the delay is still unknown.
“Some of the cases were quite serious and urgent,” Ip said. “Many students and their parents have already purchased air tickets, and because of the delay in obtaining visas, they have had to change their flights and itineraries.”
The students had applied for their visas several weeks ago and many have already missed classes, or were set to miss the start of their courses.
“People who sought my help said they had applied for visas in the middle of August or even at the end of July, but they had not yet heard from the relevant British departments,” Ip said.