An international student who travelled to the UK two months early after being given the wrong enrolment date by his university is facing deportation after it reported him to the Home Office.
Rasikh Aziz was incorrectly told by the University of Law that he must arrive by October 2022 for a postgraduate course beginning in January 2023, according to documents seen by the Observer. He subsequently flew to the UK and presented himself at the university’s Birmingham campus, where he had an induction, underwent an ID check and was issued with a student card. In January, he began attending classes without a problem.
It was only the following month, when he contacted the international admissions team over a separate matter, that he says he was told by officials that he had arrived several weeks earlier than he should have.
Emails show he was then told that he would need to return to Pakistan and apply to recommence his studies at a later date, or finish the course online. He was initially given one day to confirm his decision. In a subsequent email, he was told that, because he had arrived ahead of the January start date, he was “not considered a student under the student route” as he did not immediately have classes to attend.
As a result, the university said it had withdrawn its sponsorship and reported him to the Home Office. Aziz has now been told he has until 22 May to leave at his own expense, or face being deported.
“It’s not a mistake from my side but I am paying for it,” he said. “I feel disheartened, hurt and very worried about my future. It feels as though I am being treated as though I have done something wrong.”
Aziz, 31, who is from Lahore, is being helped by a charity and immigration experts, who describe his treatment as unfair and say he is being penalised for an administrative error by the university.
The father of two young children, who was given a partial scholarship for academic excellence, said that studying for the postgraduate qualification at the University of Law had seemed like a “great opportunity”. Before coming to the UK, he worked in human resources but spent about £12,000 uprooting his life in the hope the leadership course would improve his career prospects and allow him to work for international firms. If he returns now, he says, he will have wasted thousands of pounds for visa fees, flights and accommodation costs and will have had his life put on hold for a year.
Inam Raziq, an immigration adviser supporting Aziz, questioned why the university had taken the step of reporting him, rather than informing the Home Office of the administrative issue and attempting to rectify the problem.
He said: “An admin error from the university is destroying this student’s career, future and personal wellbeing. Instead of accepting their mistake, they have doubled down.”
The University of Law, whose alumni include the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and Sayeeda Warsi, the Conservative peer and former party co-chair, has campuses across the UK which primarily offer legal and business courses. It presents itself as an institution that welcomes international students, saying on its website “you’ll feel at home with us”, and that the student support team is “by your side from day one so you’re never alone on your journey”.
The university was sent detailed questions on Aziz’s case but said it could not comment. A spokesperson said: “We have been in active discussions with Rasikh and his legal team regarding this. As this is currently an ongoing complaint, we are unable to comment other than to say we take any student complaints very seriously and will always do everything within our power to resolve them within the confines of rules and regulations issued by other parties such as the UKVI [UK Visas and Immigration directorate, part of the Home Office].”
The confusion over the enrolment date appears to have occurred because Aziz had initially been accepted for a September 2022 intake, but later deferred to January 2023 with the university’s agreement. When he was issued course documents by the admissions team, they included the old deadline. The university has not explained why it permitted Aziz to begin his studies if there were issues with his documentation.
Those supporting Aziz are calling on the university to restore his student status so he can continue his studies in the UK without delay. Returning home now – with a gap in his employment history, out of pocket, and without the qualification he had set out to obtain – would be “like starting from zero”, he said. “My future is in limbo.”
Fizza Qureshi, from the Migrants’ Rights Network charity, said the case was part of a “worrying trend” of international students being “failed” by their universities “and ending up a victim of the hostile environment”.
“They haven’t offered any viable solutions to resolve this issue without Rasikh paying the ultimate price,” she said.
In November, the Observer reported the case of another international student, Sulav Khadka, 23, who was forced to return to Nepal after being wrongly detained at the UK border and missing his university’s enrolment deadline. He later received an apology but said he felt he had been “treated like a criminal”.
