New PSW Visa Updates, Student Visa Rules, Net Migration 2024
The UK government has published a new release on students and PSW Visa updates in the Home Office website, titled New Measures to Tackle Student Visa Abuse, published on 23rd May 2023. Remember we told you about the potential announcement of the UK Prime Minister on the crackdown on student and visa abuse last week. This has now been published. Today we will tell you everything published by the Home Office as updates to student visas and visas and measures to tackle student visa abuse. So make sure you subscribe to our whatsapp channel for more on UK visas and immigration updates.
New PSW Visa Updates, Student Visa Rules
Now look closely. Rishi Sunak was said to be considering severely restricting or even scrapping the graduate visa route. A further crackdown on student visas was announced on Thursday, but the government stopped short of committing to radical new rules for foreign graduates. Rishi Sunak was considering severely restricting or even scrapping the graduate visa route as a way of reducing migration figures, it had been reported, but the government confirmed it has opted for more modest reforms and said the visa, which allows graduates from overseas to stay in the UK for two years after studying, will be kept under review.
Instead, the Home Office said it would clamp down on rogue recruitment agents and introduce tougher compliance standards for higher education institutions. The proposals include a stringent new mandatory framework for universities that use recruitment agents who encourage people to apply to British institutions raising thresholds so international students have to prove their financial self-sufficiency. Those who accept international students who then fail to pass visa checks or complete the courses risk losing their sponsor licence. Restrictions on remote teaching to ensure foreign students are predominantly undertaking face to face courses.
The graduate visa will remain in place until at least after the general election on July 4th. Many of the changes reflect recommendations. In a review conducted by the Migration Advisory Committee, MAC, which was published last week. The MAC pointed to poor practices by recruitment agents who can exploit student and graduate visa holders by mis selling higher education courses in Britain. Home Secretary James Cleverly said we have taken decisive and necessary action to deliver the largest cut in legal migration in our country’s history. Applications are already falling sharply, down by almost a quarter on key routes in the first four months of this year compared to last year, with the full impact of our package still to be seen. But we must go further to make sure our immigration routes aren’t abused. That’s why we are cracking down on rogue international agents and building on work across the government to ensure international students are coming here to study, not work.
The reforms form part of the government’s overall plan to cut legal migration. UK universities have already reported applications from foreign students falling after the government introduced curbs on master’s students bringing family to Britain with them. Hundreds of jobs are at risk at Southbank University as international student numbers fall. Union leaders warned last week the university and college union UCU said 297 posts could be made redundant and blamed the proposed job cuts on a predicted £24 million deficit due to a fall in international students, static domestic student recruitment and rising pension costs.
Provisional Home Office figures to April 2024, published on Wednesday, indicated a drop in the number of visa applications from overseas students and foreign care workers, but they also suggested the number of skilled worker visa applications has risen by 50% in the first four months of this year, compared with the same period in 2023. Labour’s shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, accused the Tory party of total chaos and failure on immigration, adding this general election is a choice. More chaos with the conservatives or a Labour government that can fix the chaos and get a grip on the immigration and asylum system again. Levels of net migration to the UK have varied sharply in recent years.
The figure was on a downward trend immediately before the Covid 19 pandemic, falling from an estimated 276,000in 2018 to 184,000in 2019. That year, the conservatives made a manifesto pledge that there will be fewer lower skilled migrants and overall numbers will come down. The levels dropped to an estimated 93,000in 2020, when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement. The total then rose to 466,000in 2021, before jumping further to a record 764,000in 2022. The most recent estimate of 685,000 for 2023 suggests levels are starting to fall once again, although the Office of National Statistics said it is too early to say if this is the start of a new downward trend. We hope this information was helpful to you all.
New measures to tackle student visa abuse
New proposals will further crackdown on student visas, ensuring only genuine students can come to the UK; route will be kept under review.
The Home Secretary and Education Secretary have announced new proposals to ensure the UK’s world-leading higher education sector is used for education, not as a gateway to immigration, with options to go further remaining under consideration.
This will deliver on the commitment to lower overall levels of migration while maintaining the UK’s leading status as a world-class destination for higher education and attracting the brightest and best international students.
It comes as the latest statistics published by the ONS show net migration has dropped by 10% since 2022. These figures do not take into account changes made by the government which are expected to bring migration down further. The latest figures since the changes came into effect show a 25% drop in visa applications. The Office for Budget Responsibility has previously forecast that net migration will halve from its 2022 peak in the next 12 months.
The proposals would regulate the recruitment of international students, cracking down on rogue recruitment agents who encourage people to apply to British universities by mandating universities to sign up to a stringent framework for agents.
Tougher compliance standards for institutions recruiting students from overseas will be introduced. Those who accept international students who then fail to pass our visa checks, enrol or complete their courses, will risk losing their sponsor licence.
Financial maintenance requirements will be raised, so international students will have to prove their financial self-sufficiency. The government is already reviewing English language assessments with the objective of standardising independent assessments, ensuring all international students are equipped with the skills to understand their course materials – or they shouldn’t expect a place at a UK university.
Restrictions on remote delivery will also ensure all overseas students are predominantly undertaking face-to-face courses.
Home Secretary, James Cleverly, said:
We have taken decisive and necessary action to deliver the largest cut in legal migration in our country’s history. Applications are already falling sharply, down by almost a quarter on key routes in the first four months of this year compared to last, with the full impact of our package still to be seen.
But we must go further to make sure our immigration routes aren’t abused. That’s why we are cracking down on rogue international agents and, building on work across government, to ensure international students are coming here to study, not work.
Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, said:
I am proud that British universities have a fantastic reputation both at home and abroad, and it is testament to the quality of education they offer that so many people aspire to study in this country.
It is right that we strike the balance between controlling immigration and making sure the UK remains the ‘go to’ place for students around the world, supporting our brilliant universities and enabling the best and brightest to study here.
The reforms form part of the government’s overall plan to cut legal migration, which would mean 300,000 who arrived last year would be unable to do so under the new rules.
These measures, which came into force in the first few months of this year, are already having an impact on migration levels, with the latest monthly statistics published yesterday showing that applications across key routes affected by the changes fell by 25% in the first four months of 2024, compared with the same period last year.
To protect the integrity and quality of the UK’s higher education sector and ensure it works in the country’s best interests, the Home Secretary commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to conduct a rapid review of the Graduate visa.
The MAC warned that rogue recruitment agents pose a threat to the integrity of our immigration system, with poor practices exploiting student and graduate visa holders mis-sold UK higher education. Since migrants on the student route transition directly to the Graduate route, immediate action is necessary.
The government also remains concerned that the route is not attracting the highest earners who contribute to our economy. after analysis from HMRC and the Home Office showed that more than a quarter of Graduate visa holders were not found to be in PAYE employment at any point during financial year ending 2023, and of those that were, the majority (63%) were not in PAYE employment for the full year.
The UK’s world-leading universities rightly attract some of the brightest students from around the world and the government remains committed to the International Education Strategy which recognises the important benefits that international students bring to the UK, including their economic contributions.
Taken together, the Home Secretary’s package to reduce legal migration will mean approximately 300,000 people who arrived in the UK last year would no longer be able to. The following measures are already in force:
- increasing the salary threshold for Skilled Worker visas by 48% to £38,700
- restricting care workers from bringing dependants with them and requiring care providers acting as sponsors in England to register with the industry regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), to crack down on worker exploitation and abuse within the sector
- abolishing the shortage occupation list and replacing it with a new immigration salary list, with employers no longer able to pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations
- raising the minimum income requirement for the family visa, to reach the level of the Skilled Worker visa, currently £38,700 by early 2025
Delivery of this comprehensive series of measures comes as the government cracks down on rising migration, both legally and illegally, and reforms the immigration system.
We have worked successfully with international partners and clamped down on criminal gangs with stepped-up enforcement.
The Safety of Rwanda Act was passed in April and the Treaty with Rwanda has been ratified.
New PSW Visa Updates, Student Visa Rules
UK Visa Update: Migrant care workers are ordered to leave the UK
Offer healthcare workers on tier2 visa ILR after 2 years instead of 5 years
UK Begins Withdrawal Of Job Offers Of Legal Migrants: UK Immigration Updates
The Best Method For Obtaining A UK Visa Through Self Sponsorship in 2024
JOIN WITH US WHATSAPP CHANNEL: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va4bIhd6GcGCVFJLgE2L