HSMP New Zealander faces deportation!

[MORBULOUS_PRIME]

The lunacy continues! READ!

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TONGUE-TIED!

19 May 2008

Kiwi may be deported as she hasn’t proved that she can speak English - even though it’s her first language

By Jon Surtees

A New Zealander from the Borough could be deported because the Government thinks she can't speak English - despite the fact it’s her first language!

Rebecca Cheatley, a Kiwi who lives in Trinity Church Square, has been in the United Kingdom for six out of the last eight years and now works as a regeneration specialist for government body The Environment Agency, making sure the London Olympics and the Thames Gateway regeneration schemes are ecologically sound.

Before moving to the UK, she completed both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in her native New Zealand - both of which were taught in English, also the native tongue of her Pacific homeland.

Despite this, the British government has now rejected her application, bizarrely claiming that the fact she has achieved a degree higher than the conventional Bachelor's level does not prove she can speak English - a key requirement to be accepted by the 'Highly Skilled Migrant Programme' (HSMP) for which she is attempting to be accepted.

Under the programme, Ms. Cheatley must earn a set amount of 'points' by proving she earns a good salary, has a decent education, is of a suitable age and has good enough work experience to contribute to the British economy.
However, the very fact of her high quality education has now seen her rejected for the HSMP scheme because government officials claim her Master's degree could have been achieved in just one year, whilst a Bachelor's must take at least three. What they haven't accounted for is that it is impossible to achieve a Master's degree without first earning a Bachelor's.

Ms. Cheatley has appealed the decision and now faces a nervous wait to see if she is allowed to remain in the country.

Incredibly, the system she is battling against has recently been changed so that applicants from New Zealand are automatically passed on the English language requirement. However, because she submitted her application in March - before the new system was in place - she has to be considered under the old rules.

The case has attracted the support of North Southwark and Bermondsey MP Simon Hughes, who this week said: "For the Home Office to turn down a Southwark resident for Highly Skilled Migrant Status on the grounds she did not meet the English language requirement, when her native language is English, cannot be right.

"I am taking up this case with the Home Office and hope that they will urgently realise the nonsense of this part of their decision."

The ‘News’ contacted the Home Office but received no response at the time of going to press.
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http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/00,news,10468,440,00.htm

[PaperPusher]

A big complaint about the HSMP scheme as it was is that it allowed the caseworkers too much subjectivity - now the complaint is that it does not allow common sense because they follow the letter of the rules exactly.

The story does not make sense anyway. If she has a degree that was taught in English as the article implies then that should be enough. Maybe she did not include the Bachelors in her application, or evidence that it was taught in English.

Masters degrees are not accepted because they are only (usually) one year long. You can get an MBA without a degree or degree level study. You could get a Masters without having a degree taught in English - say a degree taught in French or Hindi.

I cannot see how you can get rid of subjectivity and then want caseworkers to use common sense. What is common sense is subjective & varies between people.

She could request a reconsideration with evidence her degree was taught in English & if not do an English test. She may even have to reapply. The rules as they are apply to everyone don't they, not just Kiwis.

At the end of the day she has to provide evidence.

The rules will change, maybe for the better in some ways.

Anyway, I found a New Zealand degree for you from www.waikato.ac.nz:

Te Reo Maori/Maori Language

A programme in Te Reo Maori offers students the opportunity to study Maori language to a high level of competency. Te Reo Maori is available as major for the BA and BMPD. Te Reo Maori may also be taken as a second major or as a supporting subject within other undergraduate degrees, subject to academic approval of the Faculty or School of... more>>

Relevant Qualification(s):
Bachelor of Arts | Bachelor of Maori & Pacific Development | Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary Conjoint) | Certificate | Diploma | Graduate Certificate | Graduate Diploma | Postgraduate Certificate | Postgraduate Diploma

Choose a Paper:
MAOR100 - Te Reo Maori me ona Tikanga: The Maori Language and its Customs
MAOR101 - Te Reo Maori: Intermediate 1
MAOR110 - Te Reo Maori: Intermediate 2
MAOR111 - Te Reo Maori: Introductory 1
MAOR112 - Te Reo Maori: Introductory 2
MAOR155 - Reading Maori
MAOR180 - 'Ano 'Ai: Hawaiian Language Studies
MAOR181 - Ka 'Olelo Hawai'i: Post-Beginners Hawaiian Language
MAOR211 - Te Reo Maori: Post-Introductory 1
MAOR212 - Te Reo Maori: Post-Introductory 2
MAOR213 - Te Reo Maori: Post-Intermediate 1
MAOR214 - Te Reo Maori: Post-Intermediate 2
MAOR266 - Ko te Whakawhanaunga Matauranga Ahua Reo o te Reo Tuhituhi
MAOR267 - Ko te Ako Reo me nga Kaupapa Reo ma te Rumaki: Ko nga Take Ahuatanga Hinengaro-A-Iwi
MAOR290 - He Rangahau Kaupapa Korero Motuhake: Directed Study
LING305 - Nga Reo o te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa
TIKA310 - Nga Pepeha, nga Whakatauki me nga Kupu Whakaari: Proverbial and Prophetic Sayings
MAOR312 - Te Whakatakoto i te Kupu me ona Tikanga Katoa: A Description of Maori Language
MAOR313 - Te Reo Maori: Pre-Advanced
MAOR314 - Te Reo Maori: Advanced
MAOR316 - Te Reo Ahurei
MAOR366 - Nga Rereketanga o nga Reo-A-Iwi o te Ao Maori
MAOR367 - Ko te Whakarangahau Reo Maori me te Kete Korero
MAOR390 - Nga Ahuatanga o te Rangahau Korero Nehe: Directed Study

I would think that the indigenous people of her homeland may disagree about English being everyone's first language.

[jagacharaja]

The rules as they are apply to everyone don't they, not just Kiwis.

At the end of the day she has to provide evidence.

I couldn't agree more. As ridiculous as it sounds, rules are rules, for everybody. Yes some of them are idiotic and might make no sense, but it's the applicant's responsibility to have satisfied the rules laid forward - until they change for better anyway.

[niw2]

There is nothing terribly ridiculous about all this. While it is somewhat amusing that we New Zealanders and Australians have to prove that we can speak English, it remains a requirement under the HSMP programme and applicants should be careful to respect it as such. It is clearly stated in all of the documentation. Obviously, she did not read the instructions.

All she had to do is provide a letter from the University at which she studied confirming that she was taught in English and the requirement would have been satisfied. I am a New Zealander myself and have recently obtained such a letter. It is not difficult; the Universities have standard-form letters that they produce for graduates on request. If she didnt obtain such a letter, she has no one to blame but herself.

When Tier 1 comes into force in New Zealand, we will be assumed to be able to speak English. That will be entirely sensible. Although New Zealand has a second official language (ie. Maori), it is spoken by only a tiny fraction of the population and is the sole language of only a handful of individuals.