UK education department opposes visa rule changes

London: The Department for Education in the UK is reportedly opposing the Home Office’s plans to reduce the number of foreign students in the country.

According to a report by Telegraph, The ministerial department argued that tuition fees paid by international students can help reduce costs for those from Britain, according to the report. It said a drop in foreign pupil numbers would require either more taxpayers’ money going to universities or higher tuition fees for UK students, the Telegraph said.

Since 2017, tuition fees for students studying in England have been frozen at £9,250, according to the report.

Starting in 2024, Rishi Sunak’s government intends to ban international students other than those on postgraduate courses from bringing their families to the UK.

Informing the policy changes, Home Secretary Suella Braverman last month said, that only international students on postgraduate courses designated as research programs will be allowed to bring their family members, such as children and elderly parents, as dependants. Apart from that, the new law also removed the ability for international students to switch to work visa before finishing their courses.

She also pledged steps to clamp down on unscrupulous education agents “who may be supporting inappropriate applications to sell immigration not education”.

The measure was put in place to pre-empt figures released which show that in the year to December 2022, net migration in the UK rose to a record level of 606,000.

Indians top cross-sector skilled work visa list

Official immigration statistics released in London show that Indian nationals have become the top recipients of skilled worker and student visas in the UK. The data, compiled by the UK Home Office and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), reveal that Indians accounted for the largest number of skilled worker visas, including healthcare visas for addressing staff shortages in the NHS.

They also constituted a significant portion of students granted visas under the new Graduate post-study work route. The statistics indicate a substantial increase in skilled worker visas granted to Indians, as well as a rise in study visas for Indian nationals and their dependents.