Language schools in favour of stricter visa procedures

The Federation of English Language Teaching Organisations (Feltom) has expressed concern that some of the blanket statements about English language schools made in the media following the tragic death of Chinese nationals off the coast of Ragusa last Thursday are inappropriate and could jeopardise this important sector unduly.

Feltom said it grieves over the blatant murder of the Chinese nationals, who were allegedly being taken from Malta to Sicily last week.

It said its members have met on a number of occasions in the past couple of years with officials from the Ministry of Home Affairs and Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the police immigration branch to facilitate the process of visa applications and has always cooperated with the authorities to ensure that nobody abuses the regulations and procedures as ultimately this would not be beneficial to the industry.

It said it has lobbied the government on various issues in the past, including the introduction of national minimum standards in the academic and accommodation areas, and is in favour of more stringent and clearer procedures for the application of visas as long as these are reliable and consistent.

Feltom said it firmly believes that the overwhelming majority of language students in Maltese language schools today are bona fide students. "It is unfortunate that some students, who may have ulterior motives when deciding to study English, sometimes abuse schools," it said.

There have been allegations that a number of Chinese people purporting to be students of English have been coming to Malta on visas with the real intention of migrating to Italy. The police are investigating.