New student rules to welcome the brightest and best!

[shawinam]

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publicatio ... iew=Binary

[Deviser]

Its actually 'the rich and richest' policy.

[Deviser]

Important points for students:
1.)Limited CAS issuing authority to ‘A’ rated colleges.
2.)Total visa time is strictly reduced and nobody can get permanent settlement in UK on student visa in any case.
3.)Working hour’s restrictions still same as before. Further reduction in Work placement time in colleges.
4.)English language requirements become tougher and all previous concessions abolished. HEI rule is same. Student may be visa/entry may be refused if they cannot speak English without assistance. (i.e. in visa interview at embassy or interview at entry points/airports)
5.)Post study work (PSW) visas abolished. New categories introduced in Tier 2 and Graduate Entrepreneurs with their own terms and conditions plus Tier 1 (Investor) visas requirements reduced for UK university graduates.
6.)Maintenance funds requirements increased for applicant and dependent for all visas including Tier 4 Student visas with
7.)Accommodation deposits limited to £1000/- which can be subtracted from funds requirements.

[teir12011]

I thought they were closing the PSW altogether but seems a relaxation here, if a student have a job offer of 20K then they get 2 years Teir 2 general visa automatically. I think they have heard what British Council were saying.
After all they are not tightening visas are they!!!

[Greenie]

I thought they were closing the PSW altogether but seems a relaxation here, if a student have a job offer of 20K then they get 2 years Teir 2 general visa automatically. I think they have heard what British Council were saying.
After all they are not tightening visas are they!!!

Perhaps you should read the statement of intent again. Students will not automatically be granted leave under tier 2 if they have a job offer paying £20k. They will still need to meet all of the requirements of tier 2 although will be exempt from rlmt. The job must still be graduate level, the employer must still have a tier2 licence and the job must be made at or above the minimum salary level as set out in the code of practice-which in many cases is higher than 20k.

This is what the ukba said they would do when they announced psw was being scrapped in march last year.

[Deviser]

There is not a single change in favour of students except low funds requirements when switching Tier 1 (Investor) category, which also have some difficult requirement to be eligible to switch.

If you look and think about the outcome of those changes in future, you will know that actually they are tightening the visa rules more than you can think.

[JohnM]

2.)Total visa time is strictly reduced and nobody can get permanent settlement in UK on student visa in any case.

Seems like this in most cases. However, in some cases, some people will still manage to live for 10 years legal stay required for ILR. In one of their examples, they show it's possible to study 2 years A-level, then 4 years BA Engineering, then 2 years MRes and then PHD on top of it. Sound little bit crazy but still possible. But I suppose now number of people who got ILR after long study will fall at least 10 times. No more "accountant courses" lasting for years and years. And you can't bring dependants unless you're on MA or PHD, so that will stop many people too.

Perhaps you should read the statement of intent again. Students will not automatically be granted leave under tier 2 if they have a job offer paying £20k. They will still need to meet all of the requirements of tier 2 although will be exempt from rlmt. The job must still be graduate level, the employer must still have a tier2 licence and the job must be made at or above the minimum salary level as set out in the code of practice-which in many cases is higher than 20k.

I don't think many employers will be very interested in it. Unless, it is someone very talented on postgraduate degree (MA/PHD). So, again, I think it will reduce amount of people staying compared to PSW by 80-90%.

There is not a single change in favour of students except low funds requirements when switching Tier 1 (Investor) category, which also have some difficult requirement to be eligible to switch.

You probably meant Entrepreneur 50K requirement. Yes, it may look like a big deal. But if you look at it more carefully, it's not. They will give it only to those who got Young Entr. visa first which is restricted to 2 years and 1000 people a year, allocated by universities by quotas and does not count towards settlement. And even then only if you demonstrate that you established business during those 2 years or leave UK otherwise.
It does not look like a bargain at all. I think it will be used by several hundred people per year max. Looks more like several dozen people.


So my conclusion: Conservatives made very strict rules which will send 99% of non-EU students back home. 1% who will remain will be either talented or over-educated.

I don't think it is designed to attract rich. Rich people may ignore student visas altogether and proceed to Investor visa. Why bother with full-time education...

Looks like UK gonna be even more exclusive place to get settled than it was. Not many young people will manage to stay here after studying. It is little rough but overall I think it is rather good than bad for the economy. UK will still attract foreign students. USA reduced student visas by about 50% so there is not much choice if you want to get top-class education.

[madona587]

So my conclusion: Conservatives made very strict rules which will send 99% of non-EU students back home. 1% who will remain will be either talented or over-educated.

You have to keep in mind that most of the students coming to UK on the basis of getting a permanent residence, a minority of students finish their degrees from proper universities (Not doggy colleges with doggy certificates) and are actually skilled. majority are very low skilled even though they have Masters and MBA's and can't even speak English properly and as for the purpose of permanent residence they have mercilessly abused highly skilled migrant routes. (HSMP,TIER1 Gen etc) This affected lot of genuine people in many ways. IMHO this has nothing to do with the government or particular political party.

[JohnM]

You have to keep in mind that most of the students coming to UK on the basis of getting a permanent residence, a minority of students finish their degrees from proper universities (Not doggy colleges with doggy certificates) and are actually skilled. majority are very low skilled even though they have Masters and MBA's and can't even speak English properly and as for the purpose of permanent residence they have mercilessly abused highly skilled migrant routes. (HSMP,TIER1 Gen etc) This affected lot of genuine people in many ways. IMHO this has nothing to do with the government or particular political party.

Well, generally I agree with you. But I think Conservatives are traditionally much more faster on lower-immigration reform. What you describe regarding some abuse, happened under Labour. I don't think it could not be stopped in time, it's just nobody bothered that much because global economy grew and Labour is more immigration friendly traditionally. I don't think it is good or bad. It's just part of life. When Conservatives come to power, they tighten immigration rules quite fast. Then, if Labour or Lib-Dem will come, they will relax them a little. I think abuse happened but not on such a big scale as some media would like us to think. UK was already very hard country to immigrate and settle even 10 years ago. The only exception is probably marriage visas (2 years to get settlement - too easy and if you have many relatives in UK abused easily). But it was never easy to get work permit, except some lucky few who got company transfer working for large financial or IT corporation (not anymore).

Overall it's getting harder and harder to go from undeveloped country to developed for permanent settlement. And easier and easier from one developed country to another. This is not only my observation, there is a nice book published by Cambridge university on this subject. It is written by Canadian professor who researched it in UK, Australia, Canada, USA and EU. It is a global trend. Well, I think it started very long time ago. 100 years ago you could just go to USA and stay there quite easily. Now it's getting easier and easier to travel but harder and harder to settle. 85% of all settlement visas in US come from family routes. Ships full of migrants ready for hard work is a distance memory now. And most planes carry people from other developed rich countries...

[thebuffy]

LoLz, I think that the government should play fair....Treat Tier 4 General and Child limit, and why not in every route xD? Such as scholar, depandant and marriage - requirement should all have A xD

You have to keep in mind that most of the students coming to UK on the basis of getting a permanent residence, a minority of students finish their degrees from proper universities (Not doggy colleges with doggy certificates) and are actually skilled. majority are very low skilled even though they have Masters and MBA's and can't even speak English properly and as for the purpose of permanent residence they have mercilessly abused highly skilled migrant routes. (HSMP,TIER1 Gen etc) This affected lot of genuine people in many ways. IMHO this has nothing to do with the government or particular political party.

Well, generally I agree with you. But I think Conservatives are traditionally much more faster on lower-immigration reform. What you describe regarding some abuse, happened under Labour. I don't think it could not be stopped in time, it's just nobody bothered that much because global economy grew and Labour is more immigration friendly traditionally. I don't think it is good or bad. It's just part of life. When Conservatives come to power, they tighten immigration rules quite fast. Then, if Labour or Lib-Dem will come, they will relax them a little. I think abuse happened but not on such a big scale as some media would like us to think. UK was already very hard country to immigrate and settle even 10 years ago. The only exception is probably marriage visas (2 years to get settlement - too easy and if you have many relatives in UK abused easily). But it was never easy to get work permit, except some lucky few who got company transfer working for large financial or IT corporation (not anymore).

Overall it's getting harder and harder to go from undeveloped country to developed for permanent settlement. And easier and easier from one developed country to another. This is not only my observation, there is a nice book published by Cambridge university on this subject. It is written by Canadian professor who researched it in UK, Australia, Canada, USA and EU. It is a global trend. Well, I think it started very long time ago. 100 years ago you could just go to USA and stay there quite easily. Now it's getting easier and easier to travel but harder and harder to settle. 85% of all settlement visas in US come from family routes. Ships full of migrants ready for hard work is a distance memory now. And most planes carry people from other developed rich countries...

[TanvirBD]

http://www.letterformat.solvewin.com