UK student visa policy and impact

The recent Brexit referendum has brought a lot of changes in the UK government’s policies and has created a lot of ripples, one of the changes is the international student visa policy. The UK has been a popular study destination for Indian students for a long time now, however, the new restrictions put in place by the government has seen a fall in the number of applications put through to UK universities. In 2012, UK scrapped the post-study work visa for international students which impacted a lot of Indian aspirants who planned to stay back in the UK to work post completion of their studies. A new addition to this policy does not allow non-EU international students to stay in the UK after the course.

It is said that UK universities could protest against the newly proposed policy since a large number of Indian and international students bring in a lot of revenue, and this change could impact the international applicants rolling into these universities. Being in an economic whirlwind presently, the higher the number of students willing to get admission without scholarships is beneficial to them.

Taking the support of the high-ranked universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Bath and Imperial College of London, the UK Home office has introduced a new Tier 4 Visa Pilot Scheme for students aspiring to pursue Masters at these universities which simplify the visa application process. This scheme comes into effect for applicants’ post-July 2016 seeking admission for Masters Programs.

Experts believe any further restrictions imposed on UK student visa will see a further decline in the already massively dropping number of applicants to UK universities and also encourage students to look for other international destinations to pursue higher studies.