In Ukrainian language courses, Punjab youth spot gateway to other European countries

He revealed that for Ukrainian language courses, the upper age limit for admission is a generous 38 years, and even a 10-year gap between this course and the last one pursued by the student is allowed.

According to the 32-year-old, a large number of students pick Ukrainian language studies as taking admission in this course ensures 100% visa guarantee to reach Ukraine.

“There are 15 more students from Punjab who are doing the language course along with me in the same university in Kyiv. Moreover, no one comes here to learn Ukrainian language, but they arrive to earn money and then to enter other European countries that are peaceful and offer good chance of getting work…Till the time they study here, they also work and earn around Rs 1-1.5 lakh per month,” he said, adding that most of such students are either working as taxi drivers or in hotels.

A Kapurthala student studying Ukrainian at the Kyiv International University said that some of their “seniors after completing their language course from here have gone to Portugal on a valid visa that they managed to procure with the help of some agents”. In Portugal, he added, that they managed to get a one-year work permit making them eligible to work anywhere in 24 Schengen countries.

This Kapurthala student has now been forced to return to Punjab due to the war. He claims to have eared “good money” in six months there and regrets that war hit his plans of entering some other European country as he had to come back without finishing his 10-month course.

Another reason for this course being a draw is its cost. A student from Bathinda, who is also studying Ukrainian there, said the cost of the entire course is not more than Rs 2.50 lakh to Rs 3 lakh, including stay and agent fee. Some agents, he said, charged Rs 5-8 lakh from the aspirants with a promise of 100% visa guarantee. “Aspirants also pay this amount because they go there to enter better European countries and it is good offer for those who cannot clear IELTS,” he said, adding that they earn back this amount in 5-6 months if they get regular work in Ukraine.

An education consultant from Jalandhar, who sends students to Ukraine, said that over the past one year students who could not go to Canada, Australia, UK etc. after failing to clear IELTS preferred Ukraine as it is a gateway to other European countries.

“A large number of students went to Ukraine in the past over a year for doing a language course. But who goes there to learn language!” he quipped.

Owner of Kapurthala’s i-Can consultancy, Gurpreet Singh, said that though they don’t deal in sending students to Ukraine but during Covid period, a new trend of sending students to Ukraine for language courses became popular in the state.

“I have seen some students spend Rs 10 lakh to go Ukraine to do such language courses while the total expenditure of such courses including airfare, three months stay expenses is not more than Rs 3 lakh,” he said, adding that even students with 10 years of gap after completing their studies were eligible to do such course there. “Earlier, only MBBS students and engineering students were going there but this language courses trend is the recent one,” said Singh.

“They want to go abroad to work without caring about the course. They take this option after being told that it can help them to enter other European countries,” said another Amritsar-based consultant, adding that agents also mislead them without telling them that it was not that easy to enter Schengen countries.

“Even a large number of reputed consultancies were indulging in such immigration practices during Covid when businesses were in bad shape. They sent several aspirants to Ukraine for language courses after charging 2-3 times more than actual expense for it,” he added.

This consultant, however, blamed Delhi-based immigration consultancies of coming up with this “language course method as it guaranteed visas to Ukraine”.

Nearly 300 to 400 students from Punjab were going to Ukraine every month for the past several months, said the Amritsar consultant, adding that some students from other states were also opting for these courses.