This week, Guido Schillig, Managing Director of Anglo-Continental School of English in the UK, writes about his recent experiences of having his sponsorship licence suspended by the UK Border Agency at the beginning of the year:
“Anglo-Continental was one of the many institutions who had their sponsorship licence suspended at the beginning of the year. We received an email from the UKBA simply stating: ‘A confirmation of acceptance for studies or visa letter may only be issued under Tier 4 if the sponsor is satisfied that the student both intends and is able to follow the course of study concerned.’
An inspection team visited and reviewed our procedures. The inspectors could not tell us what had caused the sponsor licensing unit to suspend our licence and said that there is nothing further that we could add to our administration procedures. They said that our procedures were “exemplary”.
We sought a Judicial Review. Our solicitors received a fax to say that the UKBA would give back our licence with an A rating if we withdrew our High Court application for Judicial Review.
Losses directly associated with the suspension are ten job losses and gross fee income of UK£800,000 (US$1.2 million) with legal fees of UK£13,000 (US$19,652). We will never know for certain how much business has been lost overall. Our staff have taken this action very personally and find it maddening that the UKBA has not properly informed us of the reason for the suspension.
Anglo-Continental’s intention is to learn from this experience and grow. We would like to thank EnglishUK and its members, our agents, students, staff and homestay families who have been supportive of us during this very difficult time and we look forward to getting back on track. We are once more open for business!”