International students paying ‘extortionate’ fees for UK status as outsourced firm rakes in millions

Campaigners warn government risks deterring foreign students from enrolling at British universities as ‘inadequacies’ in newly outsourced visa system forces them to pay out hundreds of pounds in additional fees

Universities UK, which represents 136 universities across the country, warned that the service being offered by Sopra Steria, the private firm that took over the Home office’s visa processing system last November, was ‘unacceptable’ (Getty)

International students are having to pay extortionate fees to apply for UK status due to “woeful inadequacies” with the newly outsourced visa system, which campaigners have warned risk deterring foreign students from enrolling at British universities.

Universities UK, which represents 136 universities across the country, warned that the service being offered by Sopra Steria, the private firm that took over the Home Office’s visa processing system last November, was “unacceptable”.

MPs said this would be detrimental for the government’s bid to create a “welcoming environment” for international students, saying the private company was ”damaging that objective in their drive for profit”.

MPs and lawyers have called for an independent investigation into the newly outsourced visa system after it emerged private firms were raking in millions of pounds as vulnerable people are forced to pay “extortionate” fees and travel long distances to apply for UK status.

While foreign students applying for UK visas could previously go to their local post office to upload documents and provide biometric data, they must now attend one of just six “core centres” across the country that offer a free service, or another 51 that charge a fee starting from £60.

Students said they had been unable to book appointments due to a lack of availability and had faced difficulties navigating Sopra Steria’s website, with some resorting to paying hundreds of pounds to fast track their appointments in order to have their visas in time.

Many who are paying between £100 and £200 for premium appointments still cannot get an appointment and some are refused a refund of the money they pay for the premium service, according to Universities UK.

Elisa Calcagni, a PhD student from Chile who is studying at the University of Cambridge, said she had found it “virtually impossible” to find a free appointment with Sopra Steria.

“I didn’t want the uncertainty of constantly checking the system with no guarantee of an appointment becoming available, so I selected to pay £100 for an appointment in Croydon, two hours away,” she said.

“Despite booking a timed appointment, there was a waiting time of an hour and then the system wasn’t working properly leading to further delays.”

In another case, Khalid Elkhereiji, a student at the University of Southampton, who is partially sighted and uses a screen reader that reads on-screen text aloud, said he spent hours trying to navigate the Sopra Steria website.

“This is not a problem that I face with other websites and it meant I was not able to login without the assistance of a sighted person,” he said.

“When I was able to login it was clear that there were no appointments at the nearest centre in Southampton. This issue was raised by the university and since then I have had an appointment in Southampton.”

Following complaints, Sopra Steria has recently decided to offer pop-up services at university campuses, but these 15-minute appointments will be offered at a cost of £50, paid for by the student or university, on top of the cost students pay for their visas.

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said that despite constructive engagement between the Home Office, UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and universities, the current capacity and level of service being offered by Sopra Steria remained “unacceptable”.

He continued: “Students and universities cannot be expected to pay to address Sopra Steria’s broken system. We are calling on Sopra Steria to fully address these concerns before the September surge of students so that students can start their courses with the visas they need.

“International students make a huge cultural and economic contribution to the UK. Sopra Steria should be helping to send a more welcoming message to international students, signalling that the UK is open to talented individuals from around the world, as is the case at our universities.”

Paul Blomfield MP, co-chair of the APPG on International Students, who has asked the National Audit Office (NAO) to investigate the Home Office partnership with Sopra Steria, said the government’s desire to attract more international students was being “damaged” by the contract due to the private firm’s “drive for profit”.

“[Sopra Steria] received a £91m contract from the Home Office and have made more than £2m this year. Yet they are demanding even more from our universities and international students,” he said.

“The new Home Secretary needs to review the operation of this contract urgently before the student surge in autumn.”

David Hugkulstone, director of Smith Stone Walters immigration practice, who has a number of clients who are foreign students and have struggled with the new system, said: “You would have hoped the UKVI and Sopra Steria could have been better prepared to deal with the demand on their service.

“It is not as though a spike in applications being submitted during the summer period is a new phenomenon.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to providing a world class service to people using our visa systems, including students. We continue to work closely with Sopra Steria to ensure appointments are available at sites across the UK and six new locations were opened during May and June to provide extra capacity for customers.”

A Sopra Steria spokesperson said the company was “working closely” with the Home Office, universities and higher education institutions across the UK to deliver the Tier 4 visa application service.

They added: “This is tailored to each institution’s needs to provide greater student convenience and choice. We are focused on adapting the service to respond to areas of greatest demand and are increasing capacity where needed.”