Foreign student clampdown in Cyprus

Private colleges in Cyprus are complaining that they are facing serious financial losses in the wake of new controls over how many third country national students they can enrol for their courses.

The controls, which were imposed to combat students coming to Cyprus ostensibly to study but ending up in sham marriages or declaring asylum, were discussed at the House education committee on Wednesday.

College owners told MPs that they had already received money from students from India and Nepal for tuition but now cannot enrol them because of the recent restrictions by the education ministry.

The education ministry said the controls on student numbers follow instructions by the foreign and interior ministries. They said they needed to clamp down on third-country nationals who come as students but end up as asylum seekers, or enter into fake marriages with European Union citizens so that they can travel to other countries.

The government has already received complaints from three other EU countries concerning the issue of sham marriages, including Portugal and Romania, the committee heard.

Read more via The Cyprus Mail