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Closure of UK Post Study Work Visa will affect Indian students

                         International students always preferred UK as the best destination for higher education due to cutting edge technology, infrastructure facilities, flexible curriculum and availability of short duration courses. Moreover there are options for students to complete graduate /MBA programmes within one year period. As a sequele to closure of UK Post Study Visa with effect from 6th April 2012 number of Indian students applying for university courses starting from September 2012 started declining. Moreover it will affect the dreams of several Indians to work in the UK after their study period. Chances of further fall in the number of Indian students applying for UK Tier 1 visa route are likely by September 2012. It was opposed by Universities UK and the British Council that the measure would reduce Britain's attraction as a destination for students from India and other non-EU countries. Each year, foreign students coming to the UK generate nearly 14 billion UK pounds to the nation’s economy. Hence, the closure of the UK Tier 1 visa program is being criticized by many including Universities UK.
                               The number of Indian Students studying in the UK has nearly doubled between 1999 and 2009. In 2009, 19,205 Indian students were studying at UK institutions. As of May 2011, nearly two third of all Indian Students in the UK were studying at the Postgraduate level.
In February, the British Council had called for an "urgent review" of the changes to the student visa system, particularly the closure of the popular post-study work visa from April this year. The Council, which is responsible for promoting British education overseas, presented a detailed report to the government on the likely impact the recent student visa changes will have, and compared the experiences of Australia and US in this regard. Report titled 'Impact of Visa Changes on Student Mobility and Outlook for the UK', the British Council said: "Students from certain countries who mainly study postgraduate courses in the UK –-such as India, Pakistan, non EU countries and others --will be affected by the removal of the post-study work visa...The sooner this situation is addressed, the more contained the damage of bad publicity overseas will be."
                         The facility was popular among self-financing Indian students who sought to recover some of the expenses of studying by working for two years. The facility also enabled them to gain work experience in the UK that was seen to aid career prospects in India.
The UK Tier 1 visa program provided a good option of financially supporting their stay in the UK by getting employment for a period of two years and also offered valuable work experience for foreign students. A large number of Indians avail the opportunity of working in the UK after successful completion of studies in the UK. But the UK’s decision to eliminate the UK PSW (Post Study Work) visa program will affect the career plans of such Indians.
UK PSW visa program closed—prior to the changes in the UK immigration norms, Indian students were permitted to work for a period of two years after their study courses in the UK. Options for applying to stay in the UK—following elimination of the UK Tier 1 visa route, foreign students can still make applications for staying in the UK by exploring other UK immigration options. The only condition is that they need to fulfill eligibility criteria including income levels.
The latest step by the UK Government is to bring down UK immigration levels to ‘tens of thousands’. However, the UK authorities maintained that despite of closure of the UK Tier 1 visa route, the nation is still open to the best and the brightest.
With effect from 6th April 2012, international students will be able to apply for leave to remain in the UK under other immigration routes if they meet the criteria, but most such students are unlikely to meet the higher income level and other criteria.
                            The Home Office also announced that the annual limit for skilled Indian and other non-EU migrants with job offers in the UK would remain at 20,700 for the next two years until April 2014.Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "The government has been clear that the UK is open for business and our limit has been designed with the industry's needs in mind. We believe there is no incompatibility between economic growth and controlling migration --our reformed, more selective immigration system can achieve both."
                                                                                                                                                            Dr.T.P.Sethumadhavan