Member

We are now talking about a significant cohort of asylum claimants who place a cost on this country in many ways: on its universities, on the system itself and on the taxpayer. Given the significance of the costs to those groups—universities, the system and taxpayers—there are strong reasons to disallow claims from people who entered on a student visa. My amendment would none the less allow those desperate to escape imprisonment or worse for their political or religious views to make an asylum claim, provided it was made within two days of arrival, as, for instance, might happen with a Hong Kong person had there not been that scheme for safe and legal entry.