By: Alan Travis, home affairs editor, The Guardian, Wednesday 2 November 2011

Immigration minister Damian Green says: ‘Widespread abuse of the student visa system has gone on for too long.’

The Universities UK action group has issued a warning about Britain’s reputation in education after new figures revealed that the government’s curb on overseas students had reduced their numbers by 11,000 and led to more than 450 colleges pulling out of the market.

The Home Office said more than 400 of the pre-degree colleges lost their right to recruit international students because they could not meet the standards of a new inspection regime.

Universities UK said cutting such courses was damaging Britain’s reputation for being “open for business” and undermining the pathway programmes operated by many universities. It estimates that 40% of international students go through such colleges before going taking a degree at a British university.

Student visa reforms, which included tougher sponsor and English language requirements, came into effect in April.

The Home Office said new inspection standards were designed to ensure that genuine international students received the highest quality education.

About 400 colleges – more than 20% of the sector – had their sponsorship revoked as they did not apply in time and 51 had their licences revoked after the UK Border Agency investigated a spike in applications from south Asia just before the tougher English language tests came into force.

The immigration minister, Damian Green, said: “Widespread abuse of the student visa system has gone on for too long and the changes we have made are beginning to bite. Too many students have come to the UK with the aim of getting work and bringing over family members.”

Nicola Dandridge of Universities UK, said it believed the government’s aim of reducing net migration to below 100,000 a year lay behind the curbs. “Universities UK believes that the number of international students coming into the country should be accounted for separately and not included in the definition of net migration for the purposes of government policy. International students are not economic migrants. They come to the UK to study and then they leave.”

She said Britain could not afford to make the same costly mistakes as the US and Australia which both curbed overseas students numbers and then dropped the policy when they realised it had seriously damaged the international competitiveness of their higher education sector.

Here we will focus on first type of settlement that is the sponsorship by a family member.

The following is the whole process to get a sponsorship:

1. The sponsor must be a U.S citizen or a lawful permanent resident of U.S and can provide document to prove the status of relationship and background.
2. The family member must be a close one and the allowed sponsors can be: Spouse, Unmarried child under 21 years old, unmarried son or daughter over 21 years old, married son or daughter of any age, brother or sister or mother or father if the sponsor is at least 21 years old.
3. The sponsor must be completely willing and he has to file a petition filling up an I-130 form.
4. The sponsor must be capable of supporting the family members and can provide resources that will bring the whole family 125% above the poverty line.
5. After this I-485 is filled this is the final step to get green card.

To get a sponsorship and green card from the sponsorship of the employer:

1. Employer must determine that the person is eligible for lawful permanent residency.
2. A labour certificate must be issued mentioning that no skilful labour is available in US for the same purpose so labour has to be hired globally.
3. If the labour certificate is issued than the petitioner can file I-140 form along with I-485 form which is the ultimate step to get a green card.
4. Immigrant visa number is issued and priority date is checked.
5. If priority is current then the resident in US can change his status to lawful permanent resident or if he is abroad then he files for immigration in embassy.

Primarily there are two ways by which you might become a citizen of the United States.

Birth – If you are born within the territorial boundary of the United States or, if you are born of an American parent, who already holds the American citizenship.

Naturalization – Naturalization refers to the process, where in you approach the United States government with a citizenship request, as per the policies laid down by the federal government.

Being a Citizen of the United States would bring in a bagful of rights for you. The same has been briefly discussed about here to give you an idea of the same.

Rights of an US Citizen

Voting – As a citizen of the United States you would have the right to cast your vote in the federal elections, and you would be able to exercise your choice in choosing the next president of the United States of America.

Serve as Jury – As a citizen you would have the privilege to serve as the jury, and you would have your liberty to pronounce a person guilty or not guilty in a trial in any of the federal courts where you would be invited for being present in the trial and there after expressing your opinion.

Invite to United States – As a Citizen you would have the right to invite your family members to the United States of America, who till date have been staying in some different country. You would also have the liberty to file a request for their permanent residency with you.

Obtain Citizenship – In case your children are born in a different country other than the United States you would be allowed to obtain a citizenship for them.

US Passport – Being a citizen of the United States of America would mean that you would be eligible to get an American passport and you would be allowed to travel with the same all over the world.

Work for Federal offices – As a citizen you would be allowed to apply for a federal job opening.

Grant Eligibility – You would be eligible for obtaining the benefits of the federal grants and the scholarships.