Round-up of changes to Immigration Rules - students and colleges
One (of many) disappointing aspects of the latest statement of changes to immigration rules HC908 is the need to include drafting amendments to another statement of changes, HC863, published all of 15 days earlier. Presumably it's somebody's job at the Home Office to check stuff before they put it out. Anyway, it is now made clear that unspent criminal convictions are an automatic bar to the grant of settlement (ILR) and not to the grant of limited leave to enter or remain.
But it's students and colleges who are in the cross-hairs for this particular set of rule changes. After a short consultation which ran until January 2011, the coalition governement has decided to restrict yet further the ability of students to travel to the UK, and of colleges to sponsor them. Highly Trusted Sponsor status (HTS) will be a mandatory requirement for educational institutions from April 2012, and from this month, the numbers of non-EEA students permitted to travel here to enrol at private colleges will be subject to a cap, in much the same way as sponsored skilled workers.
Foreign students must also demonstrate yet higher English language ability before they can enter under Tier 4 of the Points Based System (PBS). The standard is raised to CEFR level B2, or high intermediate level according to the UK Border Agency. Quite why students need to show they are at this level before they can travel here to study English is something of a mystery.
Further restrictions will make life hard for overseas students. Only those studying at degree level or above will be able to take part time work. Only those studying at post-graduate level will be able to have their families accompany them to the UK. It can only be net migration numbers that led to this decision; the government ignores how this will discourage mature students - often the only ones who can afford the fees - from seeking to study here.
From April next year the Tier 1 (Post Study Work) category will close, in favour of relaxed rules for graduates of UK institutions becoming sponsored workers under Tier 2. Another major incentive to study in the UK withdrawn.