Blunders by the UK Border Agency, which could cost thousands of Pakistani students their places at UK universities, have outraged Pakistani officials with students complaining of excessive delays in their applications and unfair refusals.

Critics of the UK Border Agency have been quick to point out that the visa problems began soon after the Agency moved their Pakistan operations to Abu Dhabi.

Despite the UK Border Agency employing an extra 100 staff members; a total of 140,000 students have so far experienced problems with their visa applications whilst many have missed their start date of courses.

Reports in the Dawn newspaper yesterday revealed that an estimated 20,000 student passports were piled in the UK Border Agency offices whilst applications pended. UK authorities state that student passports must be retained by the UK Border Agency for the duration of the visa processing time.

One angry student commented, “It’s ridiculous not knowing where your most important document is.”