Major changes in UK student visa system
by Mary Jones - December 9, 2010
United Kingdom, 9th December: A major overhaul is going to be introduced in the UK student visa rules, announced the UK immigration minister Damian Green.
The UK is all set to shut the entry for around 120,000 foreign students coming to the UK from non-EU nations to study undergraduate courses.
Meanwhile, it is emerging that the short-term UK student visitor visas will be exempted from reforms. Short-term UK student visitor visas allow non-EU foreign students to study and live in the UK for a maximum period of six months.
The year 2009 saw arrival of a total of 37,715 foreign students coming to the UK to study here.
The government of the UK is going to reform the student immigration scheme since it accounts for nearly two-third of the total immigration in the nation annually.
The proposals before the UK Home Office include—
• Restricting issuance of UK student visas to only degree level courses and above;
• Making sure that all foreign students return back to the respective nations after successful completion of their study courses in the UK;
• Introduction of tough entrance criteria for adult foreign students;
• Limited entitlement to work in the UK for foreigner students after graduation;
• Limiting the facility of allowing the dependents to come to the UK.
Immigration minster Green said that although he did accept the fact that Britain was a favored destination for studying overseas but all these regulations are in tune with the need to bring down levels of UK immigration to a sustainable limit.
Chairman of UK think tank Migrationwatch Sir Andrew Green welcomed the changes. However, he expressed his disappointment at exclusion of the UK student visitor visas from such reforms adding that this route is equally susceptible to abuse just as the long term route.
Theresa May, the UK Home Secretary expressed concerns that the UK is not attracting the best and the brightest talent from abroad. Hence, the aim of the UK government is to allow only those foreign students whose motive is to come to the UK to study here and not to use this route to get jobs and stay here permanently, May added.
She reiterated that there is an urgent need to stop abuse of the UK student visas at the earliest.
»
- 1660 reads
