ENGLISH SUMMER CAMPS - Canada

Duration: One Month

Cost: 4950 (Fees+Living+Food)

Bond's Summer Camps are designed to provide international students with an exciting opportunity to learn English, discover Canada and make life-long friendships in a supervised and caring environment.
The camp is packed with activities, city trips, out of town weekend excursions, sports, specialized workshops and intensive English Classes.
Qualified staff and teachers deliver a solid program where students learn how to speak English with confidence and ease. Fun and interesting facts about Canadian history and culture are also integrated into the program.

Limit on Tier 2 (General) certificates of sponsorship until 23 April 2011 (22 December 2010)

From April 2011, the government will introduce an annual limit on applications for Tier 2 (General) of the points-based system.

On 21 December 2010, we announced an interim limit on the total number of certificates of sponsorship that sponsors can issue under Tier 2 (General) until 5 April 2011. The interim limit is 10,382 certificates, which includes certificates for both initial and extension applications. Any certificate that you assign to a prospective worker will be counted as 'used' and will be deducted from your allocation, even if it is assigned in error or is not used by the migrant to support an Tier 2 (General) application.

Applications under Tier 2 (Intra-company transfer), Tier 2 (Minister of religion) and Tier 2 (Sportsperson) are not included in the interim limit.

All allocations of certificates that have already been agreed with Tier 2 (General) sponsors will remain in place until 5 April 2011, regardless of the sponsor's current allocation renewal date. It is for sponsors to decide how to split their allocation between 'new' migrant workers and extension applicants.

The total number of 10,832 certificates includes those that have already been allocated to sponsors, but a small number have been set aside for exceptional circumstances. You can request additional certificates of sponsorship from this small reserved allocation if you are:

• an existing sponsor who requires additional certificates in exceptional circumstances during the period of the interim limit; or
• a new sponsor licensed during the period of the interim limit.

Requesting an initial or additional allocation of certificates

When we approve a new sponsor licence, we will initially give the sponsor a zero allocation of certificates. Existing sponsors may also have received a zero allocation for the current period.

If you require additional certificates during the period of the interim limit (regardless of whether your allocation was zero), you can make a request for exceptional consideration. However, there is no guarantee that your request will be granted.

You should only make a request if you want to assign a certificate to an existing or new migrant worker but you do not have enough (or any) available certificates.

For your request to be considered:

• you must be A-rated on all your sponsor licences for all tiers and categories when you submit the request; and
• the number of certificates requested must take into account any available certificates remaining in your existing allocation - if your interim allocation is not zero, you must explain how you have used or intend to use your existing certificate(s) when you make your request; and
• you must demonstrate that you have already undertaken a resident labour market test for any job that is not in a shortage occupation.

You must make your request using the Tier 2 (General) - request for initial or additional allocation of certificates of sponsorship form, explaining why you need the certificates. If you are a prospective sponsor, you should submit the completed form with your sponsor licence application supporting documents and submission sheet.

If you require a certificate for an existing worker's extension application, you should not make your request more than 60 days before their permission to stay is due to expire.

All requests from new and existing sponsors are considered in the same way, by a panel of UK Border Agency managers to ensure consistency of decision-making. The total number of certificates available for exceptional cases will be divided across each month of the interim limit period.

The panel meets on a monthly basis, normally on the 1st working day of the month. It considers all requests for exceptional consideration received on or before the 24th of the previous month. Requests from new sponsors are considered after the sponsor receives a decision on their application. (For example, if you apply for a sponsor licence on 19 December and your application is approved on 12 January, the February panel will consider your requiest for an initial allocation of certificates. If your licence application is the approved on 25 January, your request will be considered by the March panel.)

All requests for certificates for Tier 2 (General) extension applications will be approved. To qualify as an extension, the migrant worker must be currently employed by you and have permission to stay as a work permit holder or under Tier 2 (General). Other requests will be ranked according to criteria set out in the addendum to our Sponsor guidance for Tier 2 and Tier 5.

You will be told the panel's decision within 5 working days of the meeting. If your request has been successful, your account ofn the sponsorship management system will be updated. The panel's decision is final: there is no appeal or reconsideration process, but you can resubmit a request at any time.

Any certificate allocated to you following a request for exceptional consideration must be used for the role for which it was requested.

If you need an urgent decision before the next panel meeting, you should complete the form and submit as usual, clearly marking it as 'urgent'. You should also email limits@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk to tell us that you are making an urgent request. There must be a compelling reason for requesting urgent treatment (for example, because you are a newly licensed sponsor with a migrant worker whose permission to stay is due to expire before the next panel meeting). These urgent requests will be decided by the deputy director for sponsorship or a nominated deputy.

Sponsors with a B rating

All new sponsors, including those with a B rating, will initially receive a zero allocation of certificates. If you are an existing sponsor who is downgraded to a B rating during the period of the interim limit, your allocation of certificates will also be set to zero.

Your allocation will remain zero until you demonstrate your commitment to make improvements by signing up to and paying the fee for a sponsorship action plan. When you have paid the fee, we will give you an allocation of certificates until 5 April 2011 - but this may still be a zero allocation. You cannot make a request for exceptional consideration while you are B-rated.

Tier 1 (General) to close overseas and new interim limit set for Tier 2 (General) (21 December 2010)

he UK Border Agency has announced that it will stop accepting Tier 1 (General) applications made overseas from 00:01 on 23 December 2010. This is to ensure that we do not exceed the limit set by the government for issued Tier 1 (General) applications between 19 July 2010 and April 2011.

Tier 1 (General) overseas will not reopen for applications. Tier 1 (General) in the UK will remain open until 5 April 2011. There will be transitional arrangements beyond 6 April 2011 for some applicants who are already in the UK, and we will announce details of these in due course.

Following a court judgement on Friday, the government has also set a limit until 5 April 2011 on the number of certificates of sponsorship that are available to licensed Tier 2 sponsors under Tier 2 (General). The level of the limit will be 10,832, and the changes will take place immediately.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said:

'This ruling is about process, not policy - the policy of having a limit has not been found to be unlawful. The court's ruling rests on a technicality, which we have set right today to ensure that from now on the interim limit is back up and running.
'This judgment does not affect the annual cap in any way. The interim limit was a temporary measure introduced specifically to tackle a rush of applications ahead of the introduction of the annual limit.
'As a result of the volume of applications received since the interim limit was introduced last July, no more Tier 1 visa applications from overseas will be accepted after 22 December.
'The government remains firmly committed to reducing net migration to the tens of thousands.'

The changes are set out in a new Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 698).

Extended student visitor visa for migrants studying English language courses (United Kingdom)

13 December 2010

From 10 January 2011, English language students wishing to attend exclusively English language courses will be able to apply for a student visitor visa allowing them to stay for up to 11 months. The extended student visitor visa will only be available to applicants outside the UK.

Students wishing to study other courses in the UK for longer than 6 months will still need to apply under Tier 4 of the points-based system.

If you are a 'non-visa-national' who does not normally need a visa to study for up to 6 months, you must apply for the extended visa if you wish to take a longer English language course.

The extended student visitor visa's other requirements, entitlements and restrictions are the same as those for the current student visitor route. The student visitor route does not allow students to work, take a work placement, bring dependants, extend their stay or switch into other courses at the end of their stay. Our Visa services section contains more information about the student visitor route.

The fee for an extended student visitor visa will be the same as for a student visitor visa.

We will carry out a review of the extended student visitor visa within the next 12 months, to ensure that it is operating as intended.

This change does not affect the ongoing consultation on the main student route to the UK (Tier 4 of the points-based system), which has set out proposals to tackle abuse and make the system more selective and robust.

A written ministerial statement about the change is available under 'Related documents' on the right side of this page.

Government sets out proposals for major reform of the student visa system (United Kingdom)

07 December 2010

Tougher entrance criteria, limits on work and an end to students staying in the UK to look for a job are just some of the changes proposed by Immigration Minister Damian Green today as part of a shake-up of the student visa system.

Launching a public consultation on the reform of Tier 4 of the points-based system, the Home Office also revealed that 41 per cent of students coming through this route were studying courses below degree level.

Damian Green said:

'I believe attracting talented students from abroad is vital to the UK, but we must be more selective about who can come here and how long they can stay.

'People imagine students to be those who come here for a few years to study at university and then go home - that is not always the case. Too many students coming to study below degree level have been coming here to live and work, rather than studying. We need to stop this abuse.

'Today's proposals follow a major review of the system, and are aimed at a more selective system and, crucially, reducing the numbers to meet our target of reducing net migration to sustainable levels.'

The consultation will run for 8 weeks, seeking views on a range of measures to reduce the number of students that can come into the UK. Proposals include:

• reducing the number of people coming to the UK to study below degree level;
• introducing a tougher English language requirement;
• ensuring that students wishing to extend their studies show evidence of academic progression;
• limiting students' entitlements to work and their ability to bring in dependants; and
• improving the accreditation process for education providers, alongside more rigorous inspections.

The government has committed to making changes across the immigration system to achieve its overall aim of reducing net migration, in addition to the introduction of an annual limit on workers from outside Europe. The student route accounts for two-thirds of migrants entering the UK each year, which is why it is a key focus for reform.

Damian Green added:

'This government wants high-calibre students with the genuine desire to study to come to our country to come for temporary periods, and then return home. We want to hear views of our proposals from a wide range of people so that our reforms meet this objective.'

The new proposals could see Tier 4 restricted to those studying largely degree-level courses and to child students, unless the institution is a Highly Trusted sponsor. English language competence could become the key indicator of someone's eligibility to complete a higher-level course, and all Tier 4 applicants will have to pass a secure English language test showing competence at intermediary level B2 - a step up from the B1 currently required.

The drive to ensure that students return overseas after their course finishes will mean students will have to leave the UK and apply for a new visa to further their studies, and show evidence of progression to a higher course. It will also see the closure of the post-study route under Tier 1.

In addition, the government will look at ways to improve the inspection and accreditation of the education sector, to ensure that the courses offered by private institutions of further and higher education are of the highest quality.

You can download the consultation from the Consultations section of this website. Please note that the original version fo the consultation paper contained an error in the data quoted in paragraph 2.1, which has now been corrected.