United Kingdom, 4th December: Chancellor George Osborne has indicated a change in the UK government policy which may exclude international students from migrant numbers.
He says that the UK public does not favor the present definition of foreign students as migrants.
<blockquote> UK might not include foreign students in its immigration figures, says UK Chancellor George Osborne. </blockquote>
He did not hesitate to lash out on UK Home Secretary Theresa May’s policies. He clarified that the UK public is concerned about permanent migrants in the nation. Hence, the UK must focus on changing its methodology behind the figures, he maintained.
Lively discussion for removing international students from UK immigration figures—Lively discussions are going on among senior UK ministers for removing international students from UK immigration figures, said the Chancellor to the MPs.
He also stated clearly that excluding foreign student figures from the annual UK immigration figures will not make any difference to actual number of foreigners living in the UK. Rather, it will help the Tories get exact knowledge about the net targeted migration levels of below 100,000 people annually, he maintained.
The concern of the UK public is, undoubtedly, the permanent migration in the nation, said Mr. Osborne while briefing the Commons treasury committee. The fact worth notable is that foreign students come to the UK for studying here and leave the nation after completion of their studies here. That’s a good thing, he said.
The ONS(Office for National Statistics) measures the current UK immigration levels by including international students staying in the UK who live temporarily here, Mr. Osborne said. The fact how such figures must be best calculated is the issue of debate in many circles, he added.
Business groups welcome Osborne’s comments—Meanwhile, comments made by Mr. Osborne about excluding international students from annual UK immigration figures have been welcomed by business groups.
Even the Vice chancellors are feeling happy about the comments. Vice chancellors have been complaining about the UK Home Office’s policy since it was costing them nearly hundreds of millions of pounds in terms of fee income(from foreign students).
It may be worth notable that the Treasury had announced proposals to increase the immigration intake for foreign students by 55,000 by the year 2020. It further announced allowing dependent relatives of postgraduate students to get the right to work in the UK for attracting top talent in the nation.