Change rules for UK student visas—UK business leaders

United Kingdom, 23rd July: Several UK business leaders called for an immediate reform in the UK student visa process.

The business leaders urged the UK Prime Minister David Cameron to make more efforts to lure overseas students to come and study in the UK.

UK student visa policies need to be liberal—Nearly 37 UK business leaders including Lord Karan Bilimoria, co-founder of Cobra Beer forwarded a letter to the UK PM asking protection for foreign students’ entry to the UK.

The letter stated that the UK should immediately remove foreign students from UK net migration figures. New UK student visa restrictions are likely to deter rich foreign national from coming to the UK.

It was signed by renowned UK businessmen including Chairman and WPP head of Centrica, Unilever, KPMG, Sir Martin Sorrell, Ashridge Business School’s Stephen Carter and Stewards of Institute of Directors and the British Chambers of Commerce.

Genuine foreign students integral to the UK-- The UK must attract best talent from the world over, the businessmen maintained. They highlighted the vital importance of genuine overseas students to the UK economy.

The need of the hour is to give a message to the world that the UK welcomes foreigners who really intend to study in the UK and not use the UK student visa route for getting employment or for staying here permanently.

And the nation must ensure that the contribution of such foreign students is not sacrificed at all.

Toughened UK student visa restrictions have had a bad impact on the ability of foreign students to get work in the UK after successful completion of their studies in the UK. And this led to a fall in the enrolments by foreign students in the UK. Indians, in particular, have been affected by such norms.

As per the reports, Indian student registrations in the UK educational institutes went down by as much as 30 percent. This resulted in Indians opting for Australia or Canada as a destination for pursuing studies abroad.

That’s due to easier visa norms for foreign students.

The businessmen maintained that the annual target to bring down UK immigration levels to nearly 100,000 is commendable but it should not include foreign students from non-EU nations coming to study in the UK.