Aug. 2: Britain, which is struggling to cut down immigration in line with the Tory election pledge, on Monday said it will urgently review the student visa system for non-European Union nations after figures revealed that the number of students coming to the UK had increased by one-third last year to more than 300,000.
The UK government has already imposed an interim cap on immigration from outside the European Union. The interim limit will be in force till April 2011. About 3,50,000 foreign students attend British universities every year and they pay £2.5 billion a year in fees. They also contribute an estimate of £8.5 billion to the economy every year, according to home office figures.
However, students’ visas have been a cause of concern for Britain recently as numerous media investigations have pointed to presence of bogus colleges, which is an easy way for non-EU immigrants to enter the country. The home office had suspended 142 colleges from its list of approved institutions earlier this year.
The UK government in February had announced new rules to prevent abuse of the system, but they were struck down by the courts in July. According to home office figures, 313,011 non-EU students were granted visas in the 12 months up to March, and they brought 31,385 dependants with them. This figure increased from 2,35,295 students and 24,780 dependants.
The immigration minister, Mr Damian Green, on Monday pledged to crack down on bogus colleges “It’s clear that there have been some large-scale scams with the student system. What I’m doing with a review of the whole student visa system is to make sure that we can continue to attract the best to this country but also to stop that route being used as a scam.” he said.