Britain announced on Monday it will introduce face-to-face interviews with high-risk applicants, including those from India, for student visas this summer to weed out bogus students.
The announcement by immigration minister Damian Green comes after the UK in April made it compulsory for all student visa applicants from Pakistan to undergo interviews.
Under the new rules, student visa applicants may be interviewed and asked a number of questions about immigration and education history, study and post-study plans, and financial circumstances, the home office said Monday, adding that the Border Agency officers will “concentrate on high-risk applicants”.
“We expect to interview up to 14,000 students in the next 12 months,” the home office said. The UK issues about 300,000 student visas each year.
The measure will be introduced globally, and will also be implemented in India, one of the countries where an interviewing pilot was carried out “to tackle concerns about the legitimacy of some applicants”.
The pilot study of 2,300 applicants from 13 countries, ranging from India, China, Pakistan, the United States, Canada and Nigeria between December 2011 and February 2012, found 17 per cent were ineligible for UK visas, mostly over their knowledge of English.
Under previous immigration rules, all student visa applicants were assessed on their ability to speak English on the basis of their written application visa form. The study found 29 per cent student visa applicants in India, 40 per cent in Pakistan, 38 per cent in Bangladesh and 27 per cent in Sri Lanka would be ineligible on the basis of inability to speak English.
The home office, however, refused to confirm a report in the Sunday Telegraph that Prime Minister David Cameron was contemplating removing student visas from the immigration cap.