A Year Book of the Commonwealth

The wives and children under 18 of work permit holders are admitted for the same period as the head of the household provided that they hold a valid entry certificate issued for that purpose, but they are not subject to any restriction on the taking of employment. Other dependents can be admitted only when the head of the family has been accepted for permanent settlement.

STUDENTS

Students are welcome to the United Kingdom for the period of their studies and are normally given leave to enter for a period of up to one year in the first instance. They are not allowed to take full-time employment but they may work in their spare time and during vacations if they first obtain the approval of the Department of Employment, and so long as they spend not less than 15 hours a week in organised daytime study.

The wife and dependent children of a student are given leave to enter for the same period of time as the student and are not subject to any restriction on their freedom to take employment.

VISITORS

Visitors are normally given leave to enter for a period of 6 months. Those admitted as business visitors may transact business during their stay.

AU PAIR

A girl of 17 or over may be admitted for a maximum total period of 2 years. where an arrangement has been made for her to live au pair with a resident English speaking family.

Students, visitors and au pair girls are all admitted for a limited period. Applications for extensions of stay may be made to the Immigration and Nationality Department, Home Office, Lunar House, Wellesley Road, Croydon CR9 2BY.

DEPENDANTS

Wives of Commonwealth citizens settled in the United Kingdom may be admitted for settlement provided that they hold a valid entry certificate issued for that purpose, as may children under the age of 18 if both parents or the sole surviving parent are settled in the United Kingdom. Children aged 18 or over are expected to qualify for admission in their own right, for example as work permit holders (though in exceptional cases they may be admitted up to the age of 21 if they are unmarried and fully dependent on their parents and the rest of the family is coming to the United Kingdom). A widowed mother of any age, a widower over 65, or a married couple of whom either is over 65, will normally be admitted if they are wholly or mainly dependent upon children settled in the United Kingdom who are able and willing to support and accommodate them. In exceptional circumstances other dependants of Commonwealth citizens settled in the United Kingdom may be admitted. Since 16th May 1969 entry certificates have been required in all cases where the dependant wishes to settle in the United Kingdom. Dependants whose entry certificate applications have

been refused have a right of appeal against that refusal under section 13(2) of the Immigration Act.

ENTRY CERTIFICATES

The possession of an entry certificate is mandatory in the case of a Commonwealth citizen seeking entry as a dependant, and for Commonwealth men seeking settlement as the husband or fiancé of a woman resident in the United Kingdom. It is also available as a facility to all Commonwealth citizens on application at British Diplomatic Missions overseas. Possession of an entry certificate is a virtual guarantee of entry into Britain; and if the holder of an entry certificate should be refused leave to enter he has a right of appeal exercisable in the United Kingdom except in cases where refusal follows a personal decision of the Home Secretary that the presence in the United Kingdom of the person concerned would not be conducive to the public good.

THE APPEALS SYSTEM

In August 1967 the Committee on Immigration Appeals recommended the establishment of a system of appeals against refusals of entry certificates and refusals of admission and also against deportation. This recommendation was accepted, and under the Immigration Appeals Act 1969 rights of appeal against decisions to exclude or deport them from the United Kingdom and against the refusal to issue an entry certificate or grant an extension of stay were conferred on Commonwealth citizens. Corresponding rights were given to aliens under the Aliens (Appeals) Order 1970. The Immigration Act 1971 makes similar provision for a system of immigration appeals. There is a right of appeal to an adjudicator and a further right of appeal, if leave is given, to the Immigration Appeal Tribunal, against refusal of a certificate of patriality, an entry certificate, a visa or a Home Office letter of consent. If a person claiming to be patrial holds, or does not need, a certificate of patriality but his claim is not accepted when he arrives here he will have a right of appeal. A person who is not patrial and who is refused leave to enter the United Kingdom will be able to appeal against the refusal; but unless he holds a current work permit, entry certificate, visa or Home Office letter of consent he will have to exercise his right of appeal from overseas. A person whose application for an extension of stay or a variation of his entry conditions is refused has a right of appeal, as does a person whose stay is curtailed or whose conditions are varied on the initiative of the Home Office. There is also a right of appeal for anyone against whom it has been decided to make a deportation order (except when this is on the recommendation of a court, in which case an appeal lies to a higher court against the recommendation). There is no right of appeal where the decision has been taken on security or political grounds, but a special advisory procedure applies in these cases.

STATISTICS

During the 12 months period ending 31st December 1973, 1,471 Commonwealth citizens were admitted with work permits for 12 months, 702 as dependants of work permit holders, and 25,633 were admitted for settlement. These figures were published as Cmnd. 5603 in May 1974.

COMMONWEALTH STUDENTS

IN BRITAIN

HE information contained in the table in this chapter has been provided by the British Council. Further information about overseas students in Britain may be obtained from Overseas Students in Britain: Statistics 1972-73 (published by the British Council) and from Association of Commonwealth Universities Yearbook 1973 Appendix II; DES Statistics on Education— Vol. III Further Education 1971 (published by HMSO October 1973); Vol. VI UGC Universities 1970 (published by HMSO February 1973); and Government Statistical Service, Education Statistics for the United Kingdom 1971 (published by HMSO October 1973).

For the purpose of this table an overseas student is a person over the age of eighteen, whose permanent home is overseas, who has come to Britain for full-time study or research of at least six months and who is expected to return to his own country at the conclusion of his studies. In academic institutions such a person generally pays the increased fees for overseas students introduced by the British Government in 1967.

The term does not include persons who have come on work permits and who attend part-time or evening classes; young persons below the age of 18 who have come here for their schooling; persons originally from overseas who have worked and lived in Britain long enough to qualify for awards from the local education authority; persons on short-term visits such as British Council bursars and visitors; persons on study tours; or persons who have come on youth exchange schemes.

For the purpose of this table the following are not to be regarded as overseas students:

(i) any student who has been ordinarily resident in the U.K. for at least three years immediately preceding the date his course is, or was, due to begin;

(ii) any student whose parents or one of them have been ordinarily resident in the U.K. for at least three years immediately preceding the date of his course is, or was, due to begin;

(iii) any student who would have been ordinarily resident in the U.K. for at least three years immediately preceding the date his course is, or was, due to begin had he or his parents or one of them not been employed for the time being outside the U.K.;

(iv) any student aged under 21 at the date his course is, or was, due to begin, if he and his parents or one of them have been ordinarily resident in the U.K. for at least one year immediately preceding that date;

(v) any student who for at least one year immediately preceding the date his or her course is, or was, due to begin, has been (a) ordinarily resident (or on a full-time or sandwich course of higher education) in the U.K. and (b) married to a person who has been ordinarily resident in the U.K. for at least three years immediately preceding that date; or

(vi) any student whose parent or spouse is stationed in the U.K. and is recognised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office as a member of the staff of a diplomatic mission or as a career consular officer.

COMMONWEALTH STUDENTS 1972/73 BY CATEGORY OF STUDY