2023-05-11 12:25:00
The income of the guarantors of students from countries outside the European Union must now be much higher than in recent years, denounces the FEF.
A demonstration organized by the Federation of Francophone Students (FEF) started from Gare du Nord this Thursday morning at 10:00 a.m., to protest once morest the precariousness and expulsion of foreign students, driven by the increase in income requirements for their guarantors. . More than 200 participants from the universities of Mons, Liège, Namur and Brussels were present, according to the FEF.
According to Belgian law, each student from a country outside the European Union must benefit from the support of a guarantor to access higher education. For the academic year 2023-2024, the income required for these guarantors has increased. It was fixed at 2,758 euros net per monthwhich corresponds to 120% of the Social integration income ( once morest 100% previously), plus 789 euroswhich every third-country national must have in order to be able to study in Belgium.
According to the FEF, these amounts are often unattainable. Failing to find a guarantor, some students then risk losing their residence permit and having to leave the country, while others are sometimes scammed by dishonest fake sponsors. “As exams approach, it is difficult for these students to concentrate on studying while worrying regarding this issue. This event illustrates their fed up”points out Emila Hoxhaj, president of the FEF.
The student federation also denounces the precarious situation in which some foreign students find themselves. According to the association, access to CPAS aid is in fact refused to them by “absurd criteria” and the administrative procedures they have to deal with are “heavy, complicated and unfair”.
After gathering at the Gare du Nord, the procession then headed to the Foreigners Office, then to the office of the Minister of Higher Education, Valérie Glatigny (MR), to request a revision of these new amounts required for guarantors.
“No clear commitment”
“The exchanges were stormy“, said Emila Hoxhaj following welcoming a delegation from the FEF by the Minister. “We were heard, but no clear commitment was made. This once once more testifies to the contempt that exists towards the most precarious students. Until there is concrete progress, we will continue to fight for the rights of international students.”
On the side of Valérie Glatigny’s cabinet, it is specified that the rules on the conditions of access and stay in the territoryand therefore the measures concerning the guarantors, depend on the federal level and not the competences of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. The Minister’s spokesperson added that contacts have been made with the federal government and the Immigration Officeemphasizing “the importance of the balance between the need to regulate via clear conditions the arrival of foreign students from outside the EU on the territory, and the practical realities on the ground encountered by the actors of French-speaking higher education”.
With regard to administrative delays, qualified as“arbitrary” by the FEF, the Foreigners Office confines itself to indicating that applications for residence permits are analyzed chronologically and that the sending of a large number of applications before the start of the academic year can create a bottleneck in case processing.
With Belga – Photos: Belga/Louise Delvaux
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