The results obtained by foreign higher education students will now count in the recognition of their student visa. This new disposition aims at avoiding abuses, according to the Secretary of State for Asylum and Immigration Theo Francken, quoted by De Morgen Thursday.

In the previous academic year, 9,011 student visas were granted, and 2,074 requests were rejected. Of all candidates, the largest contingent came from Cameroon, with 1,949 filed requests last year.

“We observe that students from developing countries sometimes consider their visa as a possibility of immigrating permanently into our country,’’ says Theo Francken (N-VA). “They tend to fail after several attempts in their studies, then test different courses without ever graduating.’’

The current law on foreigners already allows revoking or refusing to prolong the student resident’s card if he/she “prolongs excessively his/her studies without showing sufficient progress.’’ But this last disposition has been refined. Students’ progress will now be judged on the basis of their results and of an eventual individual study project.

Maria Novak

The Brussels Times