United Kingdom, January 29: A large number of Indians who have arrived in UK on student visas are without any jobs and facing severe financial crisis in the country.
The condition of several Indian students in the UK is desperate since they are finding it hard to manage their living expenses. They are unable to pay their room rents and have no food to eat.
Feeling compelled and penniless, they are forced to take shelter in Sikh shrines in the UK, reported a BBC’s Asian Network.
Students forced to Bank on Gurdawara Kiktchen
The free kitchen of a Gurudwara in West London is providing them with free meals three times a day, stated Didar Singh Randhawa, the President of the gurudwara in West London, who admitted that there has been a considerable rise in the number of Indian students coming to the gurudwara to have meals since most of them are without any money.
There are, currently, no jobs in the UK and a large number of students from India, who have come on student visa, are unable to get employment. Moreover, those getting jobs are narrating incidences of exploitation by their employers and are not paid their due wages.
In the wake of such financial ruin being faced by several Indians who have arrived in the UK after having paid several thousand dollars to the agents way back in India, any Indians aspiring to come to UK on student visa are being warned against doing so.
According to the president of Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara, Southhall, Mr. Randhawa, Indians must think twice before submitting their applications for UK student visa since there are no jobs. And if anyone still decides to come to the UK for studying, he or she must make sufficient financial arrangement for at least a six months period, cautioned Mr. Randhawa.
Since April 2009 when the new points-based system (PBS) was introduced, the number of Indians coming to the UK has almost tripled.
Trenton, Ont.