Tier 4 refusal 245ZV(k) and AR

Hello,

I have been recently refused entry clearence on basis of not being a genuine student. Below is the ECO comments and my AR explaination. Please comment if it looks fine. Further i am having issue with my university which is London South Bank University as they are not willing to issue new CAS or extend the same for January semesters regardless of the AR outcome. They keep on repeating that the CAS was issued for Sep course and last date of joining will be Oct 10th which almost makes it impossible for me to get a decesion of my AR. The reason they give me that they have to protect its highly trusted tier 4 license and university will not accomodate or issue a new CAS to students who are refused under paragraph 245ZV (k). Please advise how to tackle with this issue?

"Every individual have right to think and plan about his career prospects and advancements. For advancement in Professional career there are 2 options.
1. Work hard in your chosen professional field (which is limited in some aspects).
2. Well qualified in the desired field.
I focused on the 1st option in my last 7 years career but I am stuck at the position of duty manager for more than 2 years now. Whenever I look for a better job, promotion or switching to other hospitality career opportunities, I found it difficult because I was lacking qualification related to Tourism & Hospitality Management. At this time I tried to polish my career with a degree of MSc in International Tourism and Hospitality Management form London South Bank University, UK. I was very ambitious and motivated when I got admission at the time of application submission however respected ECO comments were very upsetting.

Dear Respected ECM,

I am writing to you with this believe that you will have a positive look at my application. And I am also ready if you want to get my interview again.

First of all I would like you to consider few aspects before and during the interview My appointment time was 9:45am at Islamabad British embassy and I left from home (Bahria Town) at 8:30am which would normally take 45 minutes, however due to the traffic congestion and very slow moving traffic near the diplomatic enclave (red zone), I was getting late and then I was also not able to locate the exact place of the shuttle bus service to the diplomatic enclave. This had already stressed me out as I arrived 45 minutes late then scheduled appointment time.

When I entered the room there was 2 entry clearance officers who looked quite serious from their moods. One of them told me in Urdu language that you need to be brief, stick to the questions asked and your answers should be relevant which made me a little nervous.

The actual ECO taking the interview, his typing speed was slow and I was being prompted time and again during my answers to give him a chance to type in the statements while I believe he just took my first statements into account ignoring the rest and I felt very uncomfortable.

Now the points highlighted for not begin a genuine student:

1) You stated that you completed your full time study in Pakistan in 2005 when you completed an MBA. You stated that since then you have been working most recently in Abu Dhabi where you worked at the Intercontinental hotel For 5 years before moving to the Crowne Plaza where you held the position of duty manager for front office operations for 2 years. When asked why you wanted to study in the UK now you stated " i don't believe myself to be in this career if I can't get advancement and I see the next position as head of department. For better prospects and career advancement. I was lacking a degree in hospitality". You were then asked what would you do on completion of your course and you said " I will seek to go back to the Middle East because there is a lot of scope in the hotel industries in the Middle East. I will be seeking position as assistant head of department in front office". I cannot be satisfied that you have demonstrated that the proposed qualification would be of a greater benefit to you then the qualification and work experience you currently hold. I am therefore not satisfied that you are a genuine student.


Explanation 1:That's absolutely right as the next position after being a duty manger is an assistant front office manager (assistant head of department) in a hotels front office department and I did mention it to the ECO that I had faced couple of interviews in other prospective hotel chains where the assistant front office manager job qualification requires a degree or diploma in hospitality or tourism. I would like to clear here that I have 3 years Bachelors of Business Administration degree and one year MBA Marketing degree which in total makes it 4 years equivalent to a bachelors or graduate degree in most of the developed countries not a Masters Degree holder. Other thing in both of above mentioned qualifications nothing is related with tourism or hospitality. I have always thought of continuing my studies in a master's program related to tourism and hospitality after significant amount of work experience in a related field. So it's obvious that I am seeking to have a Masters degree after relevant working experience as its related with my hotel career and will truly benefit me to form a strong base for future advancement. As well UK Master's degree from a university is of great value especially in Middle East region and top employers have a preference for such candidates. Further the degree program together with my work experience can also provide me with an opportunity to join other careers like airlines, travel agencies, cruise shipping, etc.


2) You stated that you had researched other courses and institutions. You were asked to name them and for courses you stated " Yes i looked for MBA and others but this course suited me because of the duration of 13 months". You were then asked to name the institutions and you said " well i cannot remember the names but I researched a lot specially outside London. I also researched Australia, Canada". When asked why you have chosen your selected institution you said " it was recommended by one of my friends. University services are better then that of colleges. I already mentioned that the duration and the admission fee was quite reasonable. It is reasonable to expect that a genuine student would undertake detailed research about their chosen course and institutions but were unable to name them during the interview. You also stated that you made this decision based on the recommendation of friend. Your lack of knowledge of your course and the college, despite your claimed research indicates a lack of interest in the course. In view of this, I am not satisfied as to your intentions in wishing to travel to the UK now. I am therefore not satisfied that you are a genuine student.

Explanation 2: Yes it's true that I heard about this university of London South Bank from a friend; however my decision of choosing LSBU was entirely mine. I had done considerable research about the program as it's not possible for a student, not to take into consideration the title of the course, entry requirements, duration of the course and tuition fee which is in reach of his budget. I am sure that I mentioned about tuition fee not admission fee to the ECO. Upon asking how the course is broken down by the ECO, I have answered that the course was divided into 2 semesters but may be not taken in to account by the ECO. I would like to add now that positive reviews of students and professors seen on the website, Face book and YouTube were very impressive to me. Also the contents of the course were within my interest as I always wanted to explore more about cultures, marketing management strategies, leadership and critical issues in tourism and hospitality industries. All these areas will be helping me to form a strong understanding of them as they are very important part of a top manager's performance in hotels front office operations. Yes I was not able to recall the exact subjects due to researching lots of other colleges and universities and that had confused me with the actual subjects however I had mentioned to the ECO that there were subjects related to culture, marketing and organizations. I was also not able to recall the colleges and universities I have researched before choosing London South Bank University as I was more into seeing the reviews, entry requirements, title, duration, fees and contents of the courses however I had researched London School of commerce, London college of Accountancy Business School, Bournemouth University and University college Birmingham all related with a similar course recalled from my Google browsing history. I didn't spend much effort in recalling them as I was not able to understand the nature of inquiry for such a question.

Please kindly take into consideration the amount of time and stress I have undertaken to seek an admission to this university and visa processing as my purpose of travelling to UK is solely to study this Masters course relevant to my career prospective and has an importance of all mentioned above which I already have highlighted in my personal statement attached with my actual visa application."

I don't know if you have gone to AR as yet?
Regardless on that have you checked with the Uni to ensure they have not withdrawn the CAS because if they have your representation will be meaningless if they have.

I have done AR. And I am going for JR. judicial review. Do you think I still need to tell University that they shouldn't withdraw the CAS?

rk89 wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:31 pm

I have done AR. And I am going for JR. judicial review. Do you think I still need to tell University that they shouldn't withdraw the CAS?

Why have you dug up and posted in a topic that is more than 3 years old? Continue in your existing topic please.

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