Masters Degree (English medium) meets requirement??

[push]

I know it is a duplicate post but I thought I would get a better response from a wider audiance if I posted it as a separate thread.

Looks like I will never be able to come to the grips with Tier -1. Now as far as I have understood, Tier-1 has done away with the restriction of having a UK Bachelors degree which was taught on English!! What I gather from the guidance (BIA website as well as Tier-1 notes for India) if one has a Masters Degree which was taught in English even then he will qualify for Tier-1 (This is in stark contrast with HSMP rules where only Bachelor's degree was accepted for meeting the English language requirement).

The following are the relevant excerpts from BIA website and Guidance notes (as available from VFS India website):

"Degree taught in English
179. Applicants may provide evidence that they hold a degree
which is equivalent to UK Bachelor’s level or higher and which
was taught or researched in English to a particular level as
evidence of their English language ability.
180. The qualification must:
• be recognised by UK NARIC as equivalent to at least a UK
Bachelor’s degree;
• have been taught in English to a standard comparable
to that of level C1 on the Council of Europe’s Common
European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning,
Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)."

.

I know, that in addition to the level of degree i.e. Bachelor/Masters the qualification also needs to meet the criteria as italicised above - I don’t know what these standards are. However, in order to check the veracity of my understanding, I entered details of only the Master's Degree of coolsats in the self-assessment tools and to my utter surprise this is what I got:

Quote:
"English language

English language

The qualification(s) you entered previously are identified as meeting the English language requirement . You can claim your points using this qualification, enter another qualification, or claim points for an English language test.

"


And at no point did I enter any details of the Bachelors Degree. Is it then a fair assumption that even Masters Degree (if studied in English Medium) is sufficient for meeting the English Language Criteria??

People please advise - am I completely missing something here??

regards

push_hsmp

[geriatrix]

I believe the answer to your quesry lies in the statement itself - "Applicants may provide evidence that they hold a degree which is equivalent to UK Bachelor’s level or higher ....". Higher meaning Masters etc ....... I guess.

But yes, as you have already highlighted, this is in complete contrast to the HSMP criteria. One good deed by BIA ...

regards

[CoolestGuyC]

I agree with sushdmehta, BIA calculator recognizes even (only) UK masters degree as to fulfill the English language requirements.

I had seen a thread on this forum some months back, in which some person had submitted Tier 1 Initial application with only UK masters degree, and he did get points for his English Language from his masters degree only. (Can't find the thread link though).

[rely]

my interpertation of "equivalent to british degree or higher' here HIGHER means HONORS (british honors and not an ordinary degree).
Do not take a chance uk mmigration rules says that for complete guide one is always advised to read and refer in conjunction to immigration rules and regulations.Immigration rules if you read it carefully gives reasons for NOT accepting masters degree or higher becoz masters is a specialised study of a particular field and duration of course may be less than bachelors degree and students are not necessarily required to practise listening,reading,writing and speaking in english as in bachelors degree. Therefore masters or phd NOT considered for english.

rely

I believe the answer to your quesry lies in the statement itself - "Applicants may provide evidence that they hold a degree which is equivalent to UK Bachelor’s level or higher ....". Higher meaning Masters etc ....... I guess.

But yes, as you have already highlighted, this is in complete contrast to the HSMP criteria. One good deed by BIA ...

regards

[CoolestGuyC]

Immigration rules if you read it carefully gives reasons for NOT accepting masters degree or higher becoz masters is a specialised study of a particular field and duration of course may be less than bachelors degree and students are not necessarily required to practise listening,reading,writing and speaking in english as in bachelors degree

As far as I remember, the above lines are taken from HSMP guidance notes. I don't remember reading them in any Tier 1 documentation nor in the Immigration rules on http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/policy ... tionrules/

And if above was the case, why is BIA points calculator recognizing masters degrees for fulfilling English language requirement?

In case of any doubts, it'd be best to email British High Commission regarding recognization of one's (master) degree for English Language requirement, however it is still my strong opinion that Master's degrees (alone, without Bachelors degree) on BIA points calculator would definitely fulfill the English language requirement.

[rely]

Currently Two visa processing method is going on simultaneously.
India has tier-1 and rest HSMP.
I dont think that there will be two different benchmarks for selection factor 'english' ie Masters degree or phd or bachelors degree for tier-1 and only bachelors for HSMP even if they are going to implement tier1 in summers for rest of the world.
Two processing methods going on simultaneously and 2 different parametres for english??

rely

Immigration rules if you read it carefully gives reasons for NOT accepting masters degree or higher becoz masters is a specialised study of a particular field and duration of course may be less than bachelors degree and students are not necessarily required to practise listening,reading,writing and speaking in english as in bachelors degree

As far as I remember, the above lines are taken from HSMP guidance notes. I don't remember reading them in any Tier 1 documentation nor in the Immigration rules on http://www.bia.homeoffice.gov.uk/policy ... tionrules/

And if above was the case, why is BIA points calculator recognizing masters degrees for fulfilling English language requirement?

In case of any doubts, it'd be best to email British High Commission regarding recognization of one's (master) degree for English Language requirement, however it is still my strong opinion that Master's degrees (alone, without Bachelors degree) on BIA points calculator would definitely fulfill the English language requirement.

[junior]

I had the same issue when I had applied for my extension...I have a masters and a bachelors degree and using both the degrees, I was able to score points for english language section but then I was not too sure that if there was any kinda stipulation required for the higher degree while claiming points for the english section.

From the guidance notes for T1 (General), I understand that BIA is more interested in establishing if the applicant is at least a graduate or not? At this stage of application it doesn't matters if you are a general graduate (pass courses) or a honours graduate. So IMHO it makes a little more sense to stick with this logic and use grad degree certificate as a benchmark to claim points for english language section even though you have a masters degree which shows up in BIA self assessment tool…

Regards,
Junior

[CoolestGuyC]

Taken from Immigration Rules appendix B:

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... appendixb/

(ii) has obtained an academic qualification (not a professional or vocational qualification) which is deemed by UK NARIC to meet or exceed the recognised standard of a Bachelor's or Master's degree or a PhD in the UK, and which UK NARIC has confirmed was taught or researched in English to the level indicated in the table below, and provides the specified documents, or

[geriatrix]

Immigration rules governing Tier 1 applications are available here, and nowhere do they state that English Language requirement for either Initial or Extension applications can only be (or must only be) met with a Bachelor's degree (pass or honours or special). The only reference to English language proficiency, other than what CoolestGuyC has already mentioned above, is under requirements for ILR and it relates to "Knowledge of language and life in the United Kingdom" under para 33B to 33F of the Immigration rules. So let's not deviate to english language requirements applicable to other immigration categories prescribed in the Immigration Rules.

I believe that the policy guidance which governs the administration of the Tier 1 scheme has been created by the official government agency (BIA) in line with the immigration rules that govern the conditions of Tier 1 applicants with respect to eligibility , leave to enter and leave to remain. If this is not the case and if applicants are required to scrouge through the immigration rules to evaluate what is applicable to them (or affects them), then why have the *policy* guidance in the first place?? Let the applicants read the immigration rules for Point Based System, understand them and fill the application form.

Anyhow, I used the self-assessment tool with the following *random* details:-
Tier 1 application from: India
Country of study: India
State: Uttar Pradesh
Qualification: Masters degree
Institution / Body: Institute of Management Education, Ghaziabad
Year awarded: 2000
length: 2 years or less than 3 years
Subject: Business / Economics / Management / Accounting / Finance
Grade: Below 80%
Add to qualification list: Yes

The tool shows that one gets 35 points points for this qualification - so equivalent to UK master's degree standard.

Moving forward in the assessment tool and in the English Language section, selected "other" as nationality. And I get this message on the screen - "The qualification(s) you entered previously are identified as meeting the English language requirement. You can claim your points using this qualification, enter another qualification, or claim points for an English language test".

In light of the statement above (in blue), I beg to differ:

my interpertation of "equivalent to british degree or higher' here HIGHER means HONORS (british honors and not an ordinary degree).

unless BIA has been running a *faulty* self-help tool on their website. .


regards

[CoolestGuyC]

The only reference to English language proficiency is under requirements for ILR and it relates to "Knowledge of language and life in the United Kingdom" under para 33B to 33F of the Immigration rules. So let's not deviate to english language requirements applicable to other immigration categories prescribed in the Immigration Rules.

The above point is very accurate:
For Tier 1, Immigration rules are in Appendix A http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... appendixa/
which states in Rule 245C(d) that

(d) The applicant must have 10 points under Appendix B.

and AppendixB(http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/polic ... appendixb/) for Tier 1 English language requirements states in rule 2(a)(ii) the following:

(ii) has obtained an academic qualification (not a professional or vocational qualification) which is deemed by UK NARIC to meet or exceed the recognised standard of a Bachelor's or Master's degree or a PhD in the UK, and which UK NARIC has confirmed was taught or researched in English to the level indicated in the table below, and provides the specified documents, or