UK Govt Looks to tighten Student Visa Regulations

The UK Govt is looking into tightening the regulations for Student Visas in an attempt to regulate the growing number of Foreign Students that enter the UK. It has been reported that the numbers of non EU students entering the UK has risen by more than 75,000 in the last 12 months, added to that figure are the 31,000 dependents joining their partners studying in the UK.

When the points based system was introduced it was meant to be a lot harder for foreign students and workers to enter the UK but according to certain campaign groups the Student/ Tier 4 route has failed and according to them is in fact the same as before the points based system.

Damian Green, the UK's Immigration Minister, has confirmed that there will be a thorough review of the rules and also claimed that significant abuse of the student visa system has been taking place.

Each year there are many international students that enter the UK to take up legitimate studies for degrees at Universities within the UK. These institutions clearly view foreign students as an extremely lucrative income source especially with the current cuts to the Higher Education Budget, some research shows that a third of Universities intended to increase the number of students they would enroll in September.

Another main issue to be reviewed is the regulation that allows students to extend their stay in the UK after their studies and work legally.