Fresh Talent Visa For Graduate

[ling men]

Hello

I'm looking for some advice. I met a girl from Malaysia who was studying a Masters Degree here in the UK. Her current student visa expires 30th January which currently allows her to work full time (as she has completed her course). She is now eligible for a fresh talent visa which allows her to live and work in the UK for 2 years, this is a special visa for foreign students once they graduate.

There are a couple of potential problems and I'm looking for some of the experianced members to give us their opinions. The main problem is the she lived in the UK previously with a 2 year working holiday (this is available to Malaysians as members of the Commonwealth) she was holidaying in Hong Kong when this visa expired and was stopped coming through customs. In the end they gave her a week to pack up and then deported her. Now, whenever she is comes into the UK she gets given a hard time and is worried that at some point she might be refused entry regardless of having a current visa or not.

She has the option of applying for the fresh talent visa in the UK or in Malaysia (£450 more expensive in UK). She had decided to apply here to be on the safe side but to confuse the issue she has applied to a multi-national company that were specifically looking for Malaysians to work in Scotland. They want her to go for a final interview in Malaysia on January 4th.

She thinks that getting the Fresh Talent visa will be more difficult in Malaysia as they might be more thorough with checking her background, does anyone have an opinion here?

She is also worried that if she is granted the visa in Malaysia she might still be refused entry, any opinions here?

Any help will be very much appreciated

Ling men

[the scouser]

From the circumstances which you describe, the lady in question won't have previously been deported from the U.K., but removed: there is a difference. My opinion is that if this previous removal was going to to impact upon her immigration status, it would have done so by now. That she has subsequently obtained a student visa is an indication that providing she meets the relevant criteria, she shouldn't experience difficulty in gaining entry under the fresh talent for Scotland scheme.

Whether she applies for the fresh talent visa within the UK or at the High Commission in KL is moot: the criteria are the same, and she will either get it or she won't. If she is in the U.K. and refused, that doesn't necessarily make her situation any better.

Scouse.