Suella Braverman limits number of foreign students who can stay in the UK after graduation

The Home Secretary plans to limit the total number of foreign students who can continue to live in the UK after graduating from university in order to lower immigration rates.

Suella Braverman, who was appointed to the position by Prime Minister Liz Truss, has pledged to cut immigration and “significantly reduce” the number of unskilled foreign workers coming to Britain from 239,000 to “tens of thousands”.

But she also wants to reduce the number of international students who can apply for a post-study graduate work visa, allowing any graduate student to stay and work in the UK for a minimum of two years.

The Department of the Interior is considering limiting visa applications only to those who have studied in high-demand subjects, such as engineering, the Times reports.

But university bosses have rejected the Home Secretary’s plan, saying it sent a message ‘that the UK is unwelcome and hostile to international students’ bringing £25.9bn a year to the UK economy through fees and expenses. .

In July last year, graduate visas were reintroduced after then-Home Secretary Theresa May abolished them in 2012, reducing the time graduates can stay in the country to just four months.

Since the introduction of the new scheme, 66,211 international students have been granted the right to remain in the UK – 99 percent of the total of 66,787 applications.

Nearly half of all visas granted were given to Indian citizens, totaling 28,331 (43 percent), 7,771 (12 percent) to Nigerian students and 6,599 (10 percent) to Chinese graduates.

Indian students are also the largest group of migrants crossing their visas. Ms Braverman has said she wants to reduce the number of foreign students studying at British universities after a record 486,000 visas were granted last year.

An open letter to Ms Braverman, signed by the chief executives of four groups representing more than 150 UK universities – Universities UK, GuildHE, MillionPlus and University Alliance – has been heavily criticized for her proposals.

They said international students are the source of nearly 70 per cent of Britain’s education export revenue and provide an average financial benefit of £390 per person across the country. be celebrated’.

An open letter to Ms Braverman, signed by the chief executives of four groups representing more than 150 UK universities – Universities UK, GuildHE, MillionPlus and University Alliance – has been heavily criticized over Suella Braverman’s proposals

“The negative rhetoric suggesting that the number of international students should be reduced is useless and counterproductive,” the letter to the interior minister said.

“It will have a direct impact on the continued success of one of the UK’s key export industries and limit economic growth.

Such rhetoric is also quickly reported around the world, sending the message abroad that the UK is unwelcome and hostile to international students.

“We therefore urge the Government to reiterate its commitment to the ambitions of the International Education Strategy and to avoid language that suggests that international students and their families are unwelcome in the UK.”