COMMENT: PROBLEMS WITH THE UNDERDOG | FEATURES: 140 CHARACTERS OR LESS | SOCIAL: VOLUNTOURISM IN SENEGAL
TheBeaver
09.10.2012
Newspaper of the LSE Students’ Union FREE
Students queue all night to register with police Shu Hang
Following a news report that international students in London have been queuing up throughout the night to register with the police, the Metropolitan Police have introduced a new system in the hopes of resolving the situation. Starting from Monday, October 8th, students will be able to register by downloading a form from the Metropolitan Police website and submitting
it to the London School of Economics instead of visiting the Overseas Visitors Records Office in Borough, - the only facility in London where more than 30,000 students are to collect their Police RegisWUDWLRQ &HUWLனFDWH 35& from. The deadline has also been relaxed until December 31st. Previously, international students from “high riskâ€? countries were required to register with the police within seven days of arrival, where failure to do
so is considered a criminal RŕŽ‰HQVH However, the London police have been struggling to cope with the large number of overseas students waiting to register at the start of the academic year. “Our queues are currently starting at 12:00 am,â€? reads a statement on the Metropolitan Police website, “in the interest of health and safety we would kindly request that you do not start queuing at this time as it forces us to
close our queues as early as 6:30 am.â€? The statement adds, ‍ڔ‏:H RSHUDWH RQ D னUVW FRPH னUVW VHUYHG EDVLV so it’s advisable to attend early in the morning.â€? Less than a month ago, David Willetts, the Minister of State for Universities and Science launched a global drive to salvage Britain’s reputation as a higher education destination after numerous scandals regarding the stringent student visa policy. International students are
estimated to bring arond ÂŁ5bn a year to the economy. The scandal had sparked outrage among international students, many of whom are worried that they would face punishment for not registering in time. Aigul Turetayeva, a MSc Law and Accounting student felt “humiliatedâ€? by the experience. “I arrived to the Borough branch on Wednesday at 10 am and found a huge queue there which Continued on page 6, col 1
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