Foreign student visas to be slashed by a quarter

The number of foreign students coming to Britain could be cut by a quarter under plans unveiled by the Home Secretary.

Theresa May said the clampdown would close sham colleges and block entry for those who cannot speak good English.

Her plans are expected to result in up to 100,000 fewer students and dependents being given permission to come to the UK.

But the policy was dismissed as a “con” by Labour’s Yvette Cooper, who said the Government simply plans to allow more aspiring students to enter the UK on a different kind of visa to avoid them being counted in the figures for net migration.

Channel 4 News Home Affairs Correspondent Andy Davies writes:
Each time, it seems, the government discusses its plans for an overhaul of the student visa system, a whole new set of educational "abuses" are paraded to reinforce the message that "radical" reform is needed. 
A few weeks ago the immigration minister Damian Green expressed his disbelief that the UK Border Agency had encountered a college where there were "two lecturers for 940 students".
Today the Home Secretary recounted with incredulity the case of one foreign student who thought that his "hospitality" course would enable him to work in a hospital: "Too many institutions are selling immigration and not education," Theresa May told a press briefing.
So, as expected, the main targets of today's significant reforms comprise the 700 or so private Further Education colleges in the UK which provide "sub-degree" courses. Most of these colleges do not have the "higher trusted status" of universities and unless they can earn such accreditation, they'll be forced to close. 
This is where the government imagines most of the anticipated annual reduction of 70-80,000 student visas will come, but there will also be significant reductions brought about by the closure of the Post Study Work route - a scheme which allowed students to stay on for two years after graduating while they looked for work. 
It was this avenue which the Home Affairs Select Committee highlighted recently as pivotal to "attracting the best students". The committee had warned that the direction being taken by the government on the issue of student visas risked "signficant revenue and reputational loss to the UK". 
But for Home Office ministers they too have a "reputational" issue on immigration, having stated repeatedly in public their aim to reduce net immigration from the hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands. For them, today's policy announcement is a major step forwards. If the anticipated visa reduction figures prove accurate, this will represent the most significant move yet in the government's attempt to hit it's oft-quoted immigration target. 
The student visa strategy is now, in effect, the central plank of this goverment's high profile immigration reform programme.

‘Watered-down’ policy

The Shadow Home Secretary also attacked the compromises with the Liberal Democrats that have apparently led to a watered-down version of Conservative immigration policy being implemented.

Business Secretary Vince Cable has stressed how reliant British institutions are on lucrative overseas students.

Earlier this month, universities minister David Willetts revealed that ministers were divided on how to help cut immigration without destroying an “excellent British export industry” worth more than £4bn a year.

The Conservatives initially favoured scrapping the post-study visa system, which allows foreign students to stay on in Britain while they look for work after finishing their course.

Today, Mrs May announced tougher restrictions on non-EU students who stay on – including a rule that they must find a job that pays at least £20,000 a year.

Mrs May told MPs the coalition wanted to attract the “brightest and best” to the UK, but the visa system had became “broken” under Labour.

She said: “This package will stop the bogus students studying meaningless courses at fake colleges. It will protect our world-class institutions. It will stop the abuse that became all too common under Labour. And it will restore some sanity to our student visa system.”

She said she expected the measures would reduce the number of student visas issued by 70,000-80,000 annually – equivalent to a 25 per cent fall.

Officials indicated the number of dependants coming to the UK was likely to go down by around 20,000.

The plan is seen as a key part of David Cameron’s drive to bring immigration down to tens of thousands annually by 2015.

Home Office aides say the move will help ensure British graduates are not forced out of the jobs market.

Labour ‘con’ claims

Ms Cooper accused her opposite number of placing restrictions on student visas but increasing student visitor visas, which do not count towards migration targets.

She said: “Doesn’t this expose the real con at the heart of your policy?

“Although you are making restrictions in one area, you are in fact increasing the student visitor visas in another area, in an area which does not count towards net migration targets.”

Ms Cooper told MPs: “She promised she would put an end to non-EU students working once they had finished their course – the plan is ditched.

“She promised she would put an end to non-EU applicants taking courses that weren’t degrees – that plan is ditched.

“She promised a new border police force – it is still on the Conservative Party website. Instead they have cut 5,000 staff from the UK Border Agency.
“Time and time again policies are switched back and forward, back and forward.

“In the end it is all because she knows she can’t meet the promise she has made to cut the numbers to tens of thousands by the end of the Parliament.”