The UK Home office has recently proposed a restriction policy called the “The Student Immigration System - A Consultation”. This proposal suggests that the students, who are from India and other nations, wanting to undergo higher education in Brittan, will be faced with new strict restrictions. This policy was implemented in order to cut the students visa by 25% in a year and bring down the number of visa sanctioning up next to 80,000.

Proposal from the UK Home Office regarding student visas

The new rule will come in to effect from April 2011 onwards. The new measures being proposed by the UK Home office relating to the international students includes the cutting down a majority of Tire 4 visa applicants for the undergraduate degree level courses and raising the language necessities from B1 to B2 level. The set rules will ensure limiting phony students to come to the country with other intentions rather than education.

Enforcing tight rules for international students, regarding stay back in UK after completing studies has also changed. The new rule also limits the international student’s ability to work in UK and bring over dependants. Slackening the application necessities for ‘low-risk’ candidates is also a new part of the proposal. The UK is also planning to tighten certification procedures for accredited institutions of other countries.

The students who are studying at various private colleges in the UK will also be banned from taking on employment during the period of study and also there will be limitations on work placements in courses outside the universities. On the other hand, students who have joined in the public-funded universities and colleges will hang on to their present working rights.

The new proposal also reduced and limits the overall time that a student can be used up while on a student visa at degree or higher levels to five years. This will have drastic impact on the students as at present no time perimeter is set for study at degree or higher levels. In addition to this, at present the students from India and other countries are allowed a time period of two long years to seek employment after the completion of the course. This was a huge help to many students and gave them ample time to find the right job. But the new proposal suggest abolishment of this two year gap and only graduates who have in hand a job offer from a sponsoring employer  within tire 2 is allowed to stay in the country.

The new proposal also bought in restriction with regard to bringing dependants of the students. As per the new rule only PG students at universities and also Government sponsored students are allowed to bring over their dependants. Right now, each and every student who got admission to any long duration courses can bring their dependants.

Most of the universities in UK heavily depend for their income on the huge amount of fee charged on the international students. The overseas students throw in an excess of £5 billion to the British economy. Even though, by implementing the new rule the UK Government intent to stop phony students studying worthless courses at sham colleges. The rules are made to protect the countries world class institutions and also the sanity of the Brittan’s student visa system.

Outcome on international students by these modern proposals

The Home Office consultation suggested that the overall quality of students visa sanction will be reduced drastically by setting the standards very high. Students will find more difficult to work in the country during their studies and also after their studies. These new rules will potentially affect all the international applicants who are coming in to UK under the Tire 4 category. The Tire 4 category students are considered to be coming to the country with an intention to live and get employment in the UK to a certain extent, than to achieve a good education qualification.

The new proposed rules are only going to affect those students who wanting to have a higher education in private institution. The students in this category are considered to be ‘higher risk’ as compared to the students at Public funded Universities. The overseas students who are applying to undergraduate level courses in the UK are estimated to be almost around 2/5th of all the adult international students. They are the ones who will be affected drastically with these new measures.

Key concerns regarding the proposed restrictions

The new measures will have an unfair effect on a particular category of international students. This includes the undergraduate students and the students in the private funded institutions. This is considered to be an unfair practice, as the rule will restrict countless students from coming to UK, regardless of their genuine interest to study and get good education. One of the suggestions made on contrary to the rule is to put up serious measures for controlling private institutions and language schools from exploiting international students coming for various courses. Such steps are improperly investigated in the new consultation.

These new rules will pointlessly increase the pressure on the International students who are at present studying in the UK. By limiting the intake of foreign students alongside with their dependants for work, will definitely limit the student’s from developing countries, opportunity for supporting themselves financially in the UK.

UK Governments aims to bring down students migration by 2015

By restraining students’ opportunity in the UK, as well as making it more complex for them to reside in the country for additional study or work will only diminish the attractiveness for international students of UK as a core destination for studies. They are more likely to move and spread their option to other countries for higher education which will benefit their career as such. At present the value of international students in the UK is estimated to be around £8.5bn and £12.5bn. This also encompasses the annual £2.5bn revenue which is gained for the universities from the international students fees. The long-standing smash up to the UK higher education structure have got to be weighed up as a significant aspect hanging in the balance.