£200 NHS fee for international students

On 10 October, the UK government proposed a bill that would demand for international students to pay a £200 fee every academic year in order to gain access to the National Health Service in Scotland. The Immigration Bill would also require students from outside of the UK to provide their visa and biometric information to landlords when applying for private accommodation.

This bill could have a severely negative impact on International students attending  St. Andrews, as well as Scotland and the rest of the UK.  Although some argue that £200 is  a minimal addition to the already hefty international student’s tuition fee, others feel that the Immigration Bill only serves as an inarguably negative message to international students, with little practical benefit for the UK.

For those who sympathise with the resistance to the Immigration Bill, a student-led protest, under the name of the In Good Health Campaign, has formed and can be joined by signing their petition.

Other protest efforts included a letter writing campaign on November 20^th, wherein international students wrote postcards to their UK ambassadors, asking them to put resistance to the Immigration Bill on their agenda.

Share your views in the comments below.