PUTRAJAYA: The Foreign Ministry is busy in works with Qatar Airways to provide assistance in securing flights for all those Malaysian students in the United Kingdom who want you return home back.
On Thursday, Wisma Putra said in a statement that many students made written requests to the Malaysian High Commission in London asking for help in order to get back home safe.
“British Airways currently postponed all flights to Kuala Lumpur till June 2020. Our efforts are aimed to help them get tickets with Qatar Airways which still has flights to KL from London via a transit in Doha. Malaysia Airlines is only scheduled to resume its London operations in early July,” the statement further read.
The ones whose visas had expired on Jan 24 and were no more about to move to home due to the COVID-29 pandemic, the government of United Kingdom had made an announcement of visa extensions up till May 31. It further said that the decision on whether the deadline will have some further extension beyond May 31 will only be known closer to the date.
According to the High Commission around 1,500 students in the UK from Malaysia had wished to return back to Malaysia in the coming two months were untrue, said ministry.
“Only 200 students expressed their desire to get back to Malaysia in May, while 631 students wished to come home in June. The majority were third and final year students, as well as postgraduate students.”
The ministry further giving inquiry about examinations said that the final exams were between mid-May and mid-June which are actually based on the respective institutions, adding that the most of the students who are waiting for these exams have valid visas. The announcement made by UK for the extension of visas up to May 31 by right should not affect the students.
The ministry said that students in the United Kingdom studying for longer than 12 months are free to be in the UK for more four months after the completion of their studies.