European school groups describe ‘Kafkaesque’ visa process for UK visits

For the group of 40 French schoolchildren their trip to William Shakespeare’s birthplace was meant to be the perfect introduction to the English literature and culture that they were studying in their middle school in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, an hour’s drive west of Paris.

But for three of the children who did not hold EU passports and the schoolteachers organising their four-day trip to Stratford-upon-Avon last month, it turned instead into what they described as a “Kafkaesque” nightmare dealing with the UK’s immigration system.

“I have been a teacher for 26 years, and never seen anything like this. It was really like something out of a Kafka novel,” said Fadila Mérioua, the head of the international section at the Collège les Hauts Grillets after the 12 and 13-year old children with Nigerian, Chinese and Georgian citizenship had their visa applications turned down.

Travel industry leaders said their experience was not uncommon, and urged Rishi Sunak’s government to make good on a promise at last month’s Anglo-French summit to reduce post-Brexit visa bureaucracy for school trips.

After Brexit the British government scrapped the EU’s “list of travellers” group entry visa for school children, causing the number of expected school trip bookings from EU countries to Britain to more than halve from pre-Brexit levels in 2023, according to a Tourism Alliance industry survey last November.

Children in school groups with non-EU passports are now required to obtain individual visas, with each application costing €120 and requiring a trip to Paris or the nearest regional visa office, bureaucracy which the industry says is making trips non-viable for many schools.

Mérioua, who was leading the trip to Stratford, said the experience of dealing with the Home Office had been so bad her headteacher had cancelled all future trips to the UK until conditions improved.

The rejection of the three children’s visa applications came despite them travelling on an organised, €450 four-day package trip with their teacher on a visit booked through long-established school trips company, PG Trips. A fourth student, from Cambodia, who made an identical application, was given a visa for reasons the school does not understand.

Home Office rejection letters issued to the three children and seen by the Financial Times, state that even though the children were part of a fully-sponsored tour, the visa officers did not believe them. Applicants are not allowed to appeal against the decision.

One rejection letter acknowledged the student had provided a cover letter, an invitation letter and a signed declaration that their sponsor would pay €450 for the trip, but this was deemed insufficient.

“The documents you have provided do not demonstrate your sponsor’s personal or financial circumstances. I am therefore not satisfied that your sponsor can and will provide you with support for the intended duration of your stay. Your application is therefore refused,” it said.

Two rejections said the children had failed to prove they had “parental consent” for the trip, despite travelling to visa interviews with their parents and signing an online parental consent form with the school.

“The parents signed an official authorisation, applied [for the visa] online then went to the appointment with their children,” said Mérioua, adding that all the children’s parents lived in France and had regularised immigration status.

Edward Hisbergues, the director of PG Trips, said that such experiences were not uncommon, with around 15 groups out of 250 organised this year having visas refused despite being on organised trips.

“I’ve been running school trips for 42 years. Before Brexit we sent about 15,000 children a year to the UK. In all that time, we’ve never, ever, left one behind. It’s truly ridiculous,” he said.

The UK government committed in a joint communiqué after the Anglo-French summit on March 10 to “ease the travel” of school groups “by making changes to documentary requirements for schoolchildren on organised trips from France.”

However the British Educational Travel Association (BETA), the industry body, said that it had yet to receive details of how the requirements would be relaxed and had written to immigration minister Robert Jenrick on March 20 asking for details.

The industry added it was concerned that the introduction of a new UK Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) requirement, which mirrors a similar EU scheme, would further complicate school trips.

Susan Jones, head of Linguastay, a company that finds host families for school trips, said the industry faced a “downward spiral” if the situation was not improved by September, when the next season’s bookings were usually made.

Jones added that groups Linguastay had hosted in 2023 had encountered “huge problems” with visas and the majority had indicated it would not be practical to return. “The homestay industry implores the government to act fast on their decision, before it’s too late,” she said.

The Home Office said it was “currently considering” the implications of implementing the commitment made at the summit, and declined to comment on the experience of the Collège les Hauts Grillets.

“All visa applications are carefully considered on their individual merits, on the basis of the evidence provided and in accordance with the Immigration Rules,” a Home Office spokesperson said.