UKIBC Recommendations to the Home Secretary on Student Work Visas
By Kealan Finnegan
On Wednesday 15th April, the UKIBC wrote to the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Priti Patel, with two constructive and important recommendations to support UK universities and boost the UK-India “Living Bridge” during the COVID-19 crisis.
Specifically, we recommended that the Home Office extends all student visas (tier 4) for Indian (and other foreign) students who have graduated in the UK since January 2020, and for the Home Office to provide greater clarity to universities and students on the new Graduation Immigration Route – two important measures that would benefit the UK higher education sector and national economy.
UK higher education institutions are continuing to support their students in this uncertain time. Our discussions with universities and higher education institutions have found that Indian students studying in the UK, as well as prospective students thinking about joining UK universities this year, share similar concerns in relation to student visas.
Foreign students who have recently graduated during the 2019-20 academic year face an unprecedented hurdle to secure employment in the UK due to the negative economic and health impacts of COVID-19 throughout the UK and across the world. Furthermore, the uncertainty around the time when economic activity will return to ‘normal’ is of equal concern.
Due to these exceptional circumstances, the UKIBC advocates that the Home Office grants a four-month extension for Indian, and indeed all foreign, nationals who have graduated since January 2020 and are looking for work in the UK. For those graduates at universities that entitle them to a six-month period in which to find work, the UKIBC advocates for a six-month extension.
Such an extension would help to avoid losing these talented young people, and it would send a strong signal to India, including the Government of India, that the UK is doing everything it can to support the futures of the Indian diaspora.
Secondly, the UKIBC recommends that the Home Office provides clarity to HE institutions and the thousands of young Indians planning overseas studies on the new Graduate Immigration Route announced in September 2019.
The extension of the post study work visa to two years is a very positive move that will rightly help to attract international students to study at the UK’s world class educational institutions. The number of Indian students coming to study in the UK doubled in the three years to 2018, and grew by a further 93 percent in 2019. It is therefore important that further measures help to continue these positive trends.
The UKIBC will continue to engage with Government and our members on these and other important issues. Adoption of these recommendations would be hugely positive for the UK higher education sector and help to further develop the living bridge between the UK and India through movement of students, ideas and collaboration.
UKIBC is actively engaged with both governments in the higher education sector. Look out for our blog on the importance of online learning in India next week, following our submission to MHRD advocating for UK universities (beyond the top 200 global rankings) to deliver online degree programmes in India.
