Indian students hit hard as Britain regulates student visa rules

Britain has said that Indian students visiting UK to study — first time undergraduates and postgraduates will be allowed to work for 20 hours a week during term time and full time during holidays.

Students wanting to continue studying in UK — repeat degrees, will now have to show that it is leading to education progression.

Britain announced a series of changes to the immigration rules many of which relate to the Tier 4 type.

One can apply for a Tier 4 (General) student visa to study in the UK if they are 16 or over and have been offered a place on a course.

From August, new students at publicly funded colleges will be prevented from working. The rules will also allow university students to study a new course at the same level, but only where there is a link to their previous course or the university confirms that this supports the student's career aspirations.

This will be supported by credibility interviews and sanctions against universities who abuse this rule.

The rules also ban college students from being able to extend their Tier 4 visas in the UK unless they are studying at an embedded college.

This will require them to leave and apply for a new visa from outside the UK if they wish to study another course.

Speaking to TOI, officials at the UK Visas said "we are trying to break the chain where students at publicly funded further education colleges are using the student visa route as a backdoor entry to a British work visa by switching courses and working at the same time as studying".

"These changes will help reduce immigration abuse where it exists, whilst ensuring the UK maintains a competitive offer and attracts the brightest and best international students. The UK continues to welcome genuine students to our world class universities. These changes will not affect students studying at a UK university at degree level or above," UK visas told TOI.

James Brokenshire, the immigration minister says "Immigration offenders want to sell illegal access to the UK jobs market - and there are plenty of people willing to buy. UK taxpayers who are helping to pay for publicly-funded colleges expect them to be providing top-class education, not a back door to a British work visa. Our reforms - which include introducing English language testing, removing sponsorship rights from hundreds of bogus colleges, and restricting students' access to the jobs market - are all part of our plan to control immigration for the benefit of Britain".

UK Visas told TOI that the government is reforming the student visa system to reduce net migration and tackle abuse.

It added "Non-EU students will be affected by these changes. The majority of changes will affect further Education college students. However the rules on academic progression and on maintenance fund increases will also affect university students".

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