British Home Secretary Suella Braverman is supposed to be active on a collision course with the country’s education department as reported by the UK media. There have been plans over reducing the stay period of overseas students under the post-study visa route.
As per the fresh new Graduate Visa route, the foreign graduates including Indians were permitted to stay back for seeking job opportunities and mint job experience and exposure for two years without the backing of a particular job offer. However, it will come as a surprise for the foreign students as the proposal by Braverman is expected to cut it down.
In accordance to a report by ‘The Times’, the Indian-origin home secretary has stated to plot a reform for the Graduate Visa route which orders the students to get a work visa through a skilled job opportunity or else leave the country after six months. It further instigates the leaked statement that the UK Department for Education (DfE) is on the verge to restrict the changes in the due course of time as they fear that it might impact the UK’s attractiveness in the international arena.
A government source who endorses Braverman’s plan said the Graduate Visa was widely used for the students to opt for short courses at “less respectable universities”.
“It’s being used as a backdoor immigration route,” the newspaper quoted the source.
The DfE, nonetheless, counters that the two-year Graduate Visa or UK’s post-study offer has been channelized with the primary competitors of Britain.
Braverman’s proposal is purported to retracted from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement in which he had asked the Home Office and the DfE to submit proposals for lessening the number of visits made by overseas students in the UK.
The UK Home Office refuted the leaked update, meanwhile a government spokesperson said: “Our points-based system is designed to be flexible according to the UK’s needs, including attracting top-class talent from across the world to contribute to the UK’s excellent academic reputation and to help keep our universities competitive on the world stage.”
“We keep all our immigration policies under constant review to ensure they best serve the country and reflect the public’s priorities.”
