TWO Chinese teachers on a Scottish Government-funded scheme set up for pupils to learn Mandarin have been allowed to stay in the country after a Home Office U-turn.
Both had been told that they had just days to leave Scotland after applications to extend their visas were rejected.
Their cases, highlighted by The Herald earlier this week, triggered a cross-border row after the First Minister Alex Salmond accused the UK Government of the "sabotage" of a Scottish teaching project.
Now Home Secretary Theresa May has used her discretionary power to grant the pair leave to stay in Scotland.
It is understood problems arose because of a misunderstanding between the UK Borders Agency and Strathclyde University.
The teachers work with the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools (CISS), which is sponsored by the Scottish Government.
The two, who have not been named, work in Scottish schools helping pupils to gain an awareness of Chinese culture and learn Mandarin.
The scheme, which began in 2010, is jointly funded by the Chinese, who pay the teachers' salaries while they are in Scotland, and the CISS, which pays for accommodation and other costs.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael said: "The Home Secretary has allowed the applications for these two teachers outside the rules. They do not have to leave the country."
He called on the First Minister to withdraw the allegations of sabotage.
He said: "I have to say that having looked at the letter from the First Minister to the Home Secretary and having been told what happened in this case I see absolutely no evidence whatsoever of their being sabotage of the First Minister's project."
Asked if he thought that Mr Salmond was playing politics with the issue, Mr Carmichael said: "Why else would he say it?"
It was a "very serious allegations", he said, adding if there was no evidence for the accusation "then from somebody in the First Minister's position to use that suggestion is disgraceful and it should be withdrawn".
In his letter to Mrs May, Mr Salmond wrote: "To seek to remove these teachers will undermine this successful project and damage Scotland's relationship with China. This is effectively sabotage of a Scottish Government initiative."
Last night, Humza Yousaf, Scottish Government minister for external affairs, said a third teacher had been caught up in the row.
He said: "The Home Office do seem to be at sixes and sevens in regard to this policy as the Scottish Government were today informed by the Confucius Institute for Scotland's Schools that a third teacher has been refused her visa. The Home Office have this evening confirmed that their decision extends to all of the teachers involved.
"We will be seeking assurances there will not be a repeat of this situation and that the Home Office decision reflects a change in policy.
"Instead of carping from the sidelines Alistair Carmichael would do well to support (the teachers') excellent work and question why his Government has been trying to stop them continuing to share their knowledge and expertise with Scotland's school pupils."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article