Universities fear more abuse of student visas for illegal migration | NOW

Students from outside the EU will have to face stricter enrollment conditions in higher education. Universities of applied sciences suspect that student visas are being used on a large scale for the purpose of illegal migration to the Netherlands, reports NRC.

Students from various countries outside the European Union apply for student visas for universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands, after which they often quickly stop their studies and end up illegally. It would mainly concern young people from countries such as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, India and Nigeria.

Saxion University of Applied Sciences once suffered from “missing students” from Nepal and Bangladesh in 2017, but more and more universities of applied sciences are now reporting that they are facing this problem.

It is not known how many students come to the Netherlands in this way, but universities of applied sciences have seen the number of applications from high-risk countries increase sharply in recent years. Sometimes this involved hundreds per establishment per year. The majority of applications are now rejected.

The Association of Universities of Applied Sciences believes that smugglers are active and help students from high-risk countries to travel to the Netherlands. The IND immigration service has also received “signals of college students dropping out early, especially from Bangladesh,” a spokesperson said.

Together with the Ministry of Education, the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences is working on new guidelines for country visa applications. For example, students must transfer the full tuition fee in advance.