You want a visa to do a PhD? Show me the money!
David McGloin gives an example of the idiocy of the UK’s policy of restricting access to our universities for fully-funded overseas research students.
Last year I had an enquiry from a prospective PhD canidate, from Libya. He seems like a decent enough bet: he had a MSc from Cardiff, and his references from there were fine – so there were no major concerns with his English or his general background knowledge. His MSc project was in an area relevant to my own work. So, it looked like his could make a go of a PhD. The basic paperwork was in place for him to come, he just needed to acquire a visa. Then the revolution started. Communications went down, and there was no way to know what was really happening. Thankfully, sometime after things had settled down I got an email to say my applicant was OK, and was the offer for the PhD still open? So we sorted the paperwork out again and an application was made for a visa. Note that…
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In the Dark 
May 21, 2012 at 3:59 pm
But in Germany the salary rule doesn’t apply if you are working in an academic (or perhaps only scientific?) field. Which allows non-EU citizens to work as post-docs, etc. In fact Germany makes it significantly easier than the UK does, though this is hardly surprising, since almost everything the UK does is crazy.