Colleges point finger at immigration

CHIEF Migration Officer Anny Shiakalli has been accused of racism by the National Association of Private Tertiary Education Schools.

The charges were filed in writing and handed to the President of the House Interior Committee, Andros Kyprianou, who described them as very serious and informed Interior Minister Neoclis Silikiotis about them.

The Association accuses Shiakalli of intructing police officers going to third countries to interview prospective students to decline their visa applications.

They cited as an example the fact that when the Immigration Authorities sent officers to Bangladesh to interview applicants and grant them visas to study in Cyprus, they ended up declining almost 90 per cent of the applications. The colleges claim the applicants met all the requirements and were eligible for study in Cyprus, and they are placing the blame on the Department on Migration because they believe that the officers acted on their orders.

Silikiotis committed to looking into the claims.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.