UK Tackles Immigration With Clampdown on Student-Visa Issuance - Bloomberg

U.K. Home Secretary Theresa May announced restrictions on student visas, saying they provide an easy route into Britain for those seeking to sidestep stringent immigration controls.

Immigration by students has more than trebled over the past 10 years against a backdrop of an "increase in abuse in the higher-education sector," May told lawmakers in Parliament in London today. "Bogus" institutions that let in underqualified students and illegal migrants are to blame, she said.

May said the U.K. will increase the vetting procedures for colleges so only "bona fide" institutions can operate. In future, those who wish to study in the country must speak English and be able to support themselves financially without paid employment.

The clampdown is part of Prime Minister David Cameron's effort to bring net annual immigration below the "tens of thousands" compared with almost 200,000 in 2009.

"We want to attract only the best and the brightest to Britain," May said. "We are tightening up the system, tackling the abuse and supporting only the most economically beneficial migrants."

A panel of lawmakers said March 17 it feared a clampdown on student visas might damage a business valued at 40 billion pounds ($66 billion) a year to universities and colleges.

The cross-party Home Affairs Committee said in a report that evidence from Australia found that changes to that country's visa system contributed to a 19 percent decline in student visa applications from 2009 to 2010. The panel said the future of the U.K.'s knowledge economy is "reliant on international students."

Economic Impact

Business Secretary Vince Cable expressed concern the same day that the changes might affect "university finances" and the wider economy.

Under the plans, only postgraduate students at universities and government-sponsored students will be allowed to bring their dependants, changing current rules that allow students on longer courses to bring their families.

The U.K. will limit the overall time that can be spent on a student visa to three years at lower levels, as now, and five years at higher levels. At present there is no limit for study at or above degree level.

Britain will also close the so-called "post-study work route," which allows students two years to seek employment after their course ended. Only those graduates who have an offer of a skilled job from a sponsoring employer, earning more than 20,000 pounds a year, will be able to stay to work.

Those coming to study at degree level will have to speak English at an upper intermediate level, higher than the current requirement. U.K. Border Agency staff will be able to refuse entry to students who "cannot speak English without an interpreter and who therefore patently do not meet the required minimum standards," the Home Office said in an e-mail.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kitty Donaldson in London at kdonaldson1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Hertling at jhertling@bloomberg.net.