UK to cut number of non-EU student visas
Age Correspondent
London, Feb. 7: Britain has decided to crack down on foreign students visas barely a week after it suspended new applications by students at visa application centres in North India, Bangladesh and Nepal on January 31.
The UK will tighten entry rules for non-European Union nationals applying to study in the country after cases emerged of abuse of the system by foreign students, who primarily had entered Britain to work.
The home office recently had also suspended 142 colleges from its list of approved institutions to give admission to foreign students. In 2008-09, Britain issued 236,000 student visas and refused 110,000 applications. More than 50,000 Indian students are studying in the UK at present. The students are also allowed to get their spouse and children to the UK on dependent visa provided they show financial ability to take care of them. However, the UK government now wants to change all this. The prospective students: 1. Must speak and write English at GCSE level, rather than at beginner’s level. 2. Will be allowed to work only 10 hours a week if studying for short courses or ones less than a degree. 3. Will not be allowed to get their dependents into the UK if the course is less than six months. 4. Dependants of foreign students studying below degree-level courses will not be allowed to work.
The new rules will be implemented within weeks, much before the general election. However, the home office has no elaborated on how many student visas will be cut by tightening of rules.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown had promised a review of the Tier 4 of the points-based system.
