MALAYSIAN students who were planning to head to the United Kingdom to further their studies will not be able to do so as visa application centres remain closed during the current lockdown.

Education centres providing student placement services overseas also said it is unclear if Malaysian students can make it in time for the start of the new semester.

“The semester in UK will start in September and we have advised all the students we are consulting to first put in their application online. This way, at least the Immigration Department is aware that they are planning to go abroad,” Penny Lim, the manager for JM Education Group’s Petaling Jaya branch told The Malaysian Insight.

Lim said in a normal year, she consults more than 100 students who plan to go overseas for their studies but since the pandemic, this number has decreased.

“Australia’s borders are still closed so students wishing to continue their studies there can’t do so.

“For the UK, we are now just waiting for the visa centre to reopen, they can’t operate as they are not part of essential services,” she said.

Once an application has been submitted online, the student will have to present themselves at the visa centre to get their biometrics taken, which can only be done in person.

“Medical exams and flights are easily accessible, but a visa is what everyone is waiting for now,” Lim said.

The largest visa application centre in Malaysia, VFS Global, has also been closed since the lockdown that began on June 1, and which has now been extended indefinitely.

VFS Global processes visa applications for European countries, such as the UK and Germany, as well as Canada, the United States and even Vietnam.

A notice on its website still displays an old message that says it will remain closed until June 28, the original expiry date of the lockdown.

The Malaysian Insight has reached out to VFS Global but has yet to receive a reply.

For Laura Andrews, 25, a student heading to the UK, more than a year of pandemic living and lockdowns have made her resigned to whatever happens.

“I think with this whole pandemic you’ve gotten into a habit of, if it doesn’t happen, then it doesn’t happen. There is absolutely nothing I can do.”

Her plan is to study the advanced legal practice course at the University of the West of England and her flight to the UK has been booked for August 4.

Andrews was not aware that the visa centre was closed, as she was applying for a visa with the help of her university’s regional campus.

“I didn’t know that the centre was closed, but in a briefing later my university’s regional centre told us that we have no choice but to wait,” she said.

The situation is different for students heading to certain countries, as is the case with KLC Placement Services which caters to Malaysian students pursuing life sciences courses in Poland, Indonesia, Russia and Bangladesh.

“For life science courses such as medicine and dentistry, the first year is basically a theory programme and they won’t be going to the lab.

“Therefore, they (the university) allow them to do online class for the first year, they are here in Malaysia,” Thulasi Margali, the company CEO said.

She said Poland, however, made an exception for international students and urged them to go over if possible.

“We did the first semester (December 2020) online and second semester in February, we sent 18 to 20 students off to Poland. Once they arrived there, the Polish government vaccinated them.”

Margali said there was no issue with visa applications for her company as she dealt with the respective countries’ embassies directly, so long as the Covid-19 test is done and the university has given approval to go over.”

Margali said around 30 to 40 students she is assisting will be heading to Indonesia in August to pursue medicine and dentistry courses.

“The Indonesian embassy will be getting a list of names from the respective universities, then they will proceed to get the visas done.”

Quarantine concerns

Besides visa woes, law student Andrews said her other concern is having to quarantine upon her return to the UK. The UK government has a red, amber and green list for travellers entering the country.

Those entering the UK from a red list country are required to quarantine for 10 days at a hotel upon their arrival and pay £1,750 (RM10,026) for the stay.

Currently, Malaysia is on the amber list, which requires those arriving in the UK from Malaysia to quarantine at home or in the place they are staying for 10 days, and take a Covid-19 test on or before Day Two and on or after Day Eight of their arrival.

“This is a drag and a worry because you don’t want to be spending that money. Things change so fast, you never know until the day you fly.

“It’s not only your country you have to worry about, it’s your transit country as well. If your country is on the green list but your transit country is on the red list, you follow red list rules. That is not ideal,” Andrews said.

Ameer Danial Abdul Jamal, 22, is also struggling to get a student visa, but his biggest worry had been renewing his passport during the lockdown. Without it, he would not be able to submit a visa application.

“My passport expired in the middle of the pandemic last year in December.

“At the time it wasn’t a priority to get it renewed. I wasn’t thinking of going overseas yet at the time,” he said.

When he finally decided to pursue his master’s degree overseas, Ameer said that due to the lockdown all the agencies were closed.

“I just managed to get it done two days ago. I eventually found out that you can schedule an appointment via the Immigration Department’s online portal. Not many people know about it.”

One problem solved, Ameer, who is going to study economics at the University of Canterbury, now has to wait for his student visa application, which is stuck with an application agency.

He is also worried that as a recipient of the China-made Sinovac vaccine, he will not be allowed entry into the UK.

A check on the British High Commission’s website did not show such a requirement for entry into the UK. – July 8, 2021.