CHANDIGARH: Over 2,000 students from Punjab in recent months have been refused visa (entry clearance) by the British High Commission, New Delhi, on the grounds that their certificates have not been verified by the Punjab School Education Board.
Ravi Kumar, a student from Sarhali village near Phillaur, who was turned away, says he has missed an opportunity to study in the UK because of no fault of his. “I visited the school board office, but they did not verify my certificates.”
Another student, Gurpreet Singh of Budewal village in Kapurthala, says this problem has come up only recently, and that too only at the British High Commission in New Delhi. UK consulates in other parts of India have a different procedure for having the documents verified.
At present, embassy officials as well as travel agents forward photocopies of certificates to the board, whereas it demands certificates in original and a verification fee of Rs 300, which in most cases is not sent along with the request for verification.
Gurinder Bhatti, a student visa expert in London, says the British High Commission, New Delhi, is making no real effort to find a solution to the problem. It is neither following the procedure laid down by the board, nor responding to the suggestions made by it.
The high commission can either send original certificates to the board for verification, along with the fee of Rs 300 which it may charge from the students or it could lake the result gazelle from the school board in electronic form to verify the certificates on its own. In fact, boards of some other states have this arrangement with high commissions.
Chairman of the Punjab School Education Board Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon says, “We have warned the students of Punjab against travel agents who connive with embassy officials to try and pass on their responsibility to the board. We verify only original certificates after certain formalities, including submission of a nominal fee of Rs 300.”
The huge amount of photo copies or fax versions of documents that the board receives cannot be verified, and the students have to suffer.
Dr Dhillon says not a single’ document sent through the proper procedure is lying unverified with the board.
On January 15, students had even staged a protest outside the Visa Facilitation Services (VFS) office in Jalandhar over the rejection of visas.
Daniel Clair, Entry Clearance Manager of the British High Commission, New Delhi, could not be contacted.
SOURCE-HT
