• UK Home Secretary wants to reduce the time of stay allowed for abroad students.
• Education department fear changes will undermine UK’s attractiveness to overseas students.
• The new Graduate Visa route was dominated by Indians, accounting for 41% of visas granted.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman is at odds with the country’s education department over plans to reduce the time of stay allowed for abroad students under a post-study visa option.

Under Braverman’s proposed review, the new Graduate Visa route, which permits foreign graduates, including Indians, to remain on to job hunt and get work experience for up to two years without the requirement of a particular job offer, is expected to be reduced.

The Indian-origin home secretary has devised a plan to “reform” the Graduate Visa pathway, which would require students to earn a work visa by taking up a skilled job or leave the UK after six months. According to leaked advice, the UK Department for Education (DfE) is attempting to oppose the changes because they worry they will undermine the UK’s attractiveness to overseas students.

According to a government source who supports Braverman’s approach, students on short courses at “less respectable universities” are increasingly using the Graduate Visa.

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“It’s being used as a backdoor immigration route,” the source told the publication.

The DfE, on the other hand, claims that the two-year Graduate Visa, also known as the UK’s post-study offer, was linked with the majority of Britain’s primary competitors, with only the US giving a one-year visa.

According to the most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, Indians surpassed Chinese students as the largest cohort of international students last year, and the new Graduate Visa route, which began in July 2021, was dominated by Indians, accounting for 41% of visas granted.

Braverman’s proposal is reportedly among several drawn up after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak asked the Home Office and the DfE to submit proposals for reducing the number of foreign students coming to the UK. Figures published last week showed there were 680,000 foreign students in the UK. The government’s 2019 Higher Education Strategy included a target of 600,000 students by 2030, which was met last year itself.

Another proposal being considered would reportedly allow foreign students to bring dependent family members with them only if they were on postgraduate research-based courses such as a PhD, or postgraduate courses that were at least two years’ long.

The UK Home Office refused to comment on the leak, but 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.”