UK Prime Minister Bows To Pressure, Gives New Update On Student Visa Scheme

The prime minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak has bowed to pressure from senior cabinet members over his plans on the Student Visa scheme.

Naija News reports that Sunak had earlier planned on shortening or scrapping the period of time foreign students could stay in the country after completing their studies.

However, due to the concerns raised by Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, and Home Secretary James, the period would remain valid.

This is against the agreement of former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and former immigration minister Robert Jenrick who on Tuesday referred to the graduate visa route as “a back door for foreign students to do low wage work”.

There will, however, be additional measures like tightening restrictions on British Degree Courses Market and subjecting some international students to mandatory English tests to coincide with latest net migration figures.

The UK government had announced measures to curb legal migration since November, following the discovery of the Office of National Statistics that net migration had hit 745,000 in 2022.

Some of the measures taken were to stop foreign students from bringing in dependants and increasing the salary a person has to earn to qualify for a visa.