Thread: Foreign students forced to go home after studies under tough new immigration rules

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Tens of thousands of foreign students will be forced to go home after finishing their studies under plans to scrap a controversial visa regime that allows them to stay in the UK to look for work.

Under the Post Study Work Route, degree graduates are able to remain in the UK a further two years to find a job, which can then eventually lead to permanent settlement.

Some 38,000 migrants took advantage of the system last year but, on average, only half find skilled jobs while a fifth end up unemployed. At the same time some one in 10 UK graduates were unemployed in their first six months after graduating.

Damian Green, the immigration minister, will today announce the route is to be closed as part of a major review of student visas that will also prevent up to 100,000 fewer foreigners coming each to study every year.

The moves are designed to curb abuse in the system and help the Government meet its wider pledge of bring net migration down to the "tens of thousands".

The new rules would have prevented suspected Russian spy Katia Zatuliveter staying in Britain, who was granted a two-year post-study visa after completing her one-year MA at the University of Bradford.

Miss Zatuliveter, who worked for Lib Dem MP Mike Hancock is facing deportation after she was arrested on suspicion of being a "sleeper" agent for the Russian foreign intelligence service.

The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday that students will only be allowed to come to study at degree level following concerns that up to half come to attend lower tier courses, such as vocational or A-levels, at private colleges.

The language requirement for students will only be raised to that of GCSE level.

It has now emerged that even those who are allowed to come will find it much harder to stay on after completing their studies will be expected to return home instead.

Last year, Professor David Metcalf, the Government's immigration adviser, questioned the benefits of the post study route, especially as almost 600 private colleges can offer degrees on top of the country's 154 major universities.

Mr Green said: "I believe attracting talented students from abroad is vital to the UK but we must be more selective about who can come here, how long they can stay and what they do when they're here.

"People imagine students to be those who come here for a few years to study at university and then go home – that is not always the case. Too many students coming to study at below degree level have been coming here with a view to living and working, rather than studying. We cannot reduce net migration significantly without stopping this abuse.”

TheTelegraph >>> Foreign students forced to go home after studies under tough new immigration rules (7:30AM GMT 07 Dec 2010)

Katia Zatuliveter, a suspected Russian spy, who came to Britain as a foreign student

All I can say is YIPEEEE!

Ya'll run along now!...ya hear?!

btw, The girl in the picture doesn't represent us. Nor is she very attractive. Maybe that's why she is in that ridiculous pose with those humanoids.