Fresh anger over UK visa regime as scholar forced to leave Oxford

It does strike me as a man with average intelligence a bit oafish. It is one world and all of us live here. What is the problem with taking down the toll gates? Does money have to be made and siphoned to some ones pocket in order for another human to be recognized? We really should stop thinking as though we are inhabitants of warring states and open rather than close doors to learning and cooperation. There is no benefit stemming from clearly outdated and obstructive policies which hinder human progress. Truly absurd.

For these very same reasons my husband, a senior lecturer at Bournemouth University, and I had to separate our family because we couldnt afford the fees as well. We originally came over three years ago and paid all the fees out of pocket for myself and my son, the Uni covered his tier two visa fees. But when we went to renew, everything had jumped in prices as Americans over there, and with the addition of another son while we were living there. We just couldnt afford to lose so much money that just went out into the void. So now, my husband is staying at the Uni and myself and my two boys are now living in my parents house to help and possibly save some money. Its horrible. I was also working there in the restaurant industry. Its not like we weren’t paying into the system we happened to be living in. And now im dealing with a husband who is missing out on his 9 month old son and his 10 year old son. This has been the hardest thing to deal with. No one should have to make a decision on splitting a family up die to thousands of dollars just to get a stamp on a passport!

Sorry, but this is entirely a failing of Oxford uni and whoever organised the postdoc for not advising the candidate correctly. It should have been fairly obvious to anyone with or without a PhD that if a family is coming over to study then they need a family visa. While in the wake of a recent referendum some such as Dr Gruneberg and Oxford uni might want to paint this as yet another manifestation of the "hostile environment", the rules on families are quite well-known and the PI should have incorporated sufficient funds into the bid to cover visa expenses for those with dependants - or maybe the uber rich Oxford uni could have actually just paid for the family visa application out of its own pocket. As for Oxford VC's carping about elite status resting on foreign academics, maybe if the uni actually paid more attention to attracting low income students to study there and cared about social mobility and not just the sons and daughters of the rich then maybe the uni's elite status wouldn't have to rest so much on attracting academics from overseas.

If the UK government really wanted to attract people from abroad it would not create all these pointless barriers and be so inflexible and harsh in its enforcement thereof. It is very difficult and rather pointless for employers to have to jump through hoops because it is a zero sum game. If they succeed the government will simply raise the barriers to achieve its objective of drastically reducing net immigration. Similarly, the government is determined to cut spending on programmes that benefit low income people and is opposed attempts to level the playing field and reduce inequality, it is very unfair to blame Oxford University, which is trying very hard reduce inequality and improve access and, unlike the government, putting its money where its mouth is. However it should be obvious to that Oxford alone cannot solve the problem. It requires concerted action in a wide range of areas, and really resources.