Damian Green said that it is necessary to stop the abuse of bogus students who are coming to stay in the UK. He considers that a crackdown on the student visas can prevent the abuses that are rather widespread as the research found. Many student leaders call these actions "absolute travesty" as thousands of students would be deprived of the possibility to enter universities in England. However, Green says that a decision was caused by the abuse of visas by many non-EU students coming to the UK and willing to stay there.
The crackdown of student visa regime means that most students who have arrived to the UK to get higher education will have to leave the country after finishing their studies. Courses below degree level will be offered to students only by reputable sponsors, students willing to extend their studies will have to show evidences of their academic progression while tests for entering universities will be more complicated.
Green wrote in his
custom papers: "There will be a greater emphasis on quality and we shall drive abuse out of the system. The primary objective of studying in the UK must be to study, not to work or to acquire long-term residency status."
As the net migration is planned to be cut from 200,000 to fewer than 100,000 by 2015, the way of achieving it is to stop the abuse of student visas. Nowadays two-thirds of migrants coming to the UK are students with visas.
Green said: "I believe attracting talented students from abroad is vital to the UK, but we must be more selective about who can come here and how long they can stay. People imagine that students come here for a few years to study at our universities and then go home – that is not always the case. Too many come to do courses below degree level as a cover for staying and working. I have been turning over the stones in this area, and I have to report that some unpleasant things have crawled out. We need to stop this abuse."
