Delighted that new stringent student visa rules were “beginning to bite”, the UK home office on Wednesday said a further tightening of the system was on the cards from April even as British universities said the rules were damaging their reputation abroad. Immigration minister Damian Green expressed satisfaction that the “changes we have made are beginning to bite”, and announced that further measures to tighten the student visa regime were due in April 2012.
The changes from April will include the closure of the post-study work visa, which allows students from India and elsewhere to work in the UK for two years after completing their course of study.
From April, those wishing to stay and work will need to apply under the skilled workers visa route.
There will also be new time limits on student visas and tougher rules on work placements, the home office said.
However, Universities UK, the representative organisation of all British universities, warned the government that Britain could not afford to make the “same costly mistakes” as the United States and Australia which curbed overseas student numbers and then dropped the policy when they realised it had seriously damaged the international competitiveness of their higher education sectors.
The home office said over 11,000 non-EU students could not come to the UK this year after over 450 education providers were barred from sponsoring and enrolling non-EU students because they did not meet the standards of a new inspection regime.