Student immigration to England - the reason for detention at the airport

US PhD candidate in the UK Sabine Parrish talks about her arrest at the airport by the British Immigration Service.

February 22, 2016

Posted by Sabina Parrish

Representative Migration at Stransted Airport: "How old are you?"

Me: "25."

Migration representative: "So you declare that you will complete your education at the age of 30, without ever having worked full-time and without having important employment?"

Me: "I hope to become a professor."

Migration representative: “Of course you want to.I said "important" work. You are 25 years old. You are an adult, not a child. And school is a place for children. "

This was the last humiliating remark from the border guard before I was taken to the detention at Stransted airport.

Some clarifications: I have American citizenship. Last month I traveled to the UK to visit friends and meet potential doctoral leaders. In 2015, I completed my master's degree at Oxford University, and by my stay I do not violate any conditions of my student visa to England.

Since I am American, I do not need a visa to travel to the UK, but I do need one to attend “conferences, meetings or training”.

These were the reasons for my visit, but for the first time I was stopped because I did not have invitation letters from universities for interviews (this was impossible, because I was not even interviewed, I only visited unofficialmeetings)

However, my fate was sealed when the Border Guard discovered that I did not have 19,000 pounds sterling in my bank account to pay for a year of study in the UK.Yes, I was detained due to insufficient money to pay for the course, forwhich I have not even been accepted yet.

Let me explain what eight hours of detention at the airport is.For starters, you spend four hours all alone in a small room.

Before your phone is confiscated, you have time to send two messages.The first is to my best friend, letting her know that you are faced with a small problem and will not be able to come tonight, and so that she goes to bed (knowing full well that now she will not sleep all night because of worries).

The next one is for mom, but you will have a chance to write only “I think I’m being deported”.And she will, of course, spend the next few hours in a panic on the other side of the world because you are not answering her incoming calls or messages.

Somewhere before midnight, you will be sent to another room to take your fingerprints and take a charming picture.

Your prints will now remain in their file for a decade.You are trying to point out that they already have your fingerprints, because you voluntarily gave them two years ago as a condition for obtaining a student visa to England.

You spend the next few hours in a shared waiting room.There is no gender segregation, so the best strategy is to stay awake.Despite the staff keeping order through the window, you still don't trust the men detained here who send you kisses.

At 2.45 am, after seven hours of waiting, the interview begins.Of course, they'll ask for your travel history - that's understandable.You will be asked to explain all 28 pages of your passport, complete international visas, and how you paid for them.In chronological order.And explain what you are doing in this country now.

Expect many questions about your research and all of your academic history.That being said, it is helpful to think that your unprofessional and friendly explanation of your research is in a state of sleep deprivation, severe stress, and very hungry - good practice for the future: you will remain unperturbed in front of any audience and during any conference.

From the very beginning of my adventurous detention at the airport, it was clear that there were two problems: a lack of understanding of how the postgraduate education system works, and a narrow outlook that did not allow us to see that students and scientistspositively affect the process of immigration to England.

Currently, the protective layer of harsh measures against immigrants affects the entire student circle.From Paul Hamilton, a Shakespearean scholar arrested in his own home, to a myriad of international student friends faced with an unprecedented and heightened level of border crossing control on each subsequent visit, students feel the pressure.

Moreover, this policy is a deterrent for those who are interested in studying in the UK.I can only imagine the consequences that this decline in immigrants will have in the UK's ability to be a leading producer of research and knowledge.

Somewhere in the middle of the process, someone realized that I could not be detained for not having money for a course that I wasn’t even accepted for.

So, all the facts in my case and the reasons for being in the country were verified, so I was finally released from custody at 4.01 am, in the warm and hospitable glow of Stransted's point of arrival.

Sabine Parrish is an associate editor of Standard Magazine.With the permission of the Home Office, she hopes to earn her PhD in Anthropology in the UK.[thirty]