Great Britain: Children of Oxford professor receive no visa

In the UK, foreign university employees seem to find it increasingly difficult to obtain residence permits. As the Guardian reports, there have been repeated incidents in recent weeks in which academics or their family members have not been issued visas or renewed despite years of residence.

In the most recent case, the children of American geography professor Amber Murray have been denied visas by the British Home Office, the newspaper reports. Murray was appointed professor of geography at Oxford University last year.

She had consulted an immigration attorney, and her daughters' visa applications - also US citizens - had gone smoothly, Murray said. She has already packed the suitcases for the children and bought school uniforms. When she got the negative decision, she was stunned.

The reason given for the rebuff was that Murray's husband, a native of Cameroon, did not live permanently in Great Britain as well. Exceptions are only possible if a parent has sole responsibility for the children or has died. Murray, on the other hand, wants to have submitted a corresponding permission from the father.

Two weeks departure after eight years stay

According to "Guardian", it is the second time within a few weeks that there are visa problems for staff at the University of Oxford. Accordingly, the US music researcher Elizabeth Ford, the visa after eight years at a Scottish university when switching to Oxford was suddenly not renewed.

She thought that the extension just goes by, Ford is quoted as saying. "But after eight years in the country, I had fourteen days left to leave," Ford said. According to the statement of reasons, her last visa had been issued in error.

Associations have been criticizing for some time that the visa-awarding practice has deteriorated massively, especially against researchers from Africa. According to the newspaper, according to the newspaper, there are around 100 cases in which researchers have been refused entry "on flimsy grounds", such as visiting conferences.

Connection with Brexit remains unclear

According to the report, some universities would no longer accept foreign applications for jobs for fear of the visa requirement. Applicants were advised in individual cases to cancel the application during the procedure because it was unlikely that they would get a visa as a foreigner.

Whether the cases related to the upcoming Brexit on 31 October, however, is not known. In April, at that time under Prime Minister Theresa May, the British government had announced that the fees for students from other EU countries should be increased after Brexit.

Former Minister of Education Damian Hinds had then drafted an application, according to which students from the EU from the semester 2021/22 should pay as much as students from non-EU countries.