UK To Examine Graduate Route Visa, Which Indian Students Predominately Use

According to a new independent migration report released on Wednesday, the UK government is considering reviewing the Graduate Route visa, which gives international students a two-year post-study work option and is primarily used by Indian students. The review will examine whether or not the program is serving Britain’s interests by retaining highly skilled talent.

The Graduate Route will be reviewed “to prevent abuse and protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education,” Home Secretary James Cleverly announced last week in Parliament. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the UK government on visa policies, stated that it is awaiting a formal Home Office commission.

Indians will be impacted by the review.

42% of the 176,000 students who were given a Graduate Route visa since it was implemented by former home secretary Priti Patel in July 2021 were Indian nationals; hence, any changes to this category would have a major effect on Indians.

MAC Chair Professor Brian Bell told reporters in a virtual media conference, “I wouldn’t like to get into exactly what they (Home Office) are going to ask us to look at but there are a range of options there.”

Currently, there are almost no restrictions on what may be done via the Graduate Route; if you have the money, you can spend two years doing nothing in the UK. Of course, you could limit it to the kinds of jobs or activities you would pick, or, if you really wanted to confine it, to the institutions you attended and the courses you took. Although I don’t think the committee would suggest it, it is something we would definitely take into account when doing a general review,” he said.

Report due by October

Bell said that MAC would anticipate reporting back in September or October 2024 assuming the Home Office commission is obtained early in the New Year. MAC states in its annual report, which was completed before to the review’s announcement in Parliament, that the government should determine the Graduate Route’s primary objective. It seems to have been a great success if its main goal is to improve the opportunities available to foreign students who choose to study in the UK and so increase the number of international students enrolled in higher education.

“We are skeptical that it adds much to the Skilled Worker route, which was already available to switch into after graduation, and we expect that at least a significant fraction of the Graduate Route will comprise low-wage workers, if the goal is to attract talented students who will subsequently work in high-skilled graduate jobs.”

Concerns about a comprehensive assessment of a visa category that is seen to be a deciding factor in Indian students’ decision to pursue higher education in the UK have already been voiced by diaspora student organizations.

There are evident dangers to the policy outlook. Speaking on Tuesday at the India UK Achievers Honours 2024 launch in the Parliament complex, former UK Universities Minister Lord Jo Johnson said, “I think it is very important that the Graduate Route review is focused narrowly on any abuses of the route, rather than on a wholesale re-questioning of the role of the post-study work offer in the UK, which is of pivotal importance to continue to support the living bridge.”

Indian Union of the United Kingdom talks

Now in its second year, the UK-led National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) program highlights the contributions made by Indian students to the socioeconomic landscape of the UK and is now accepting submissions for the upcoming third round.

NISAU UK Chair Sanam Arora stated, “One of our main goals is to shift perceptions and demonstrate that international students are innovators and changemakers whose contributions to the advancement of their fields of study and societies must not be disregarded, rather than just another immigration statistic.”

It seems that this administration is clueless when it comes to immigration. NISAU UK patron Lord Karan Bilimoria said, “We have a hostile immigration policy, a hostile immigration strategy, which is tremendously harmful to the United Kingdom across the globe. Back in 2007, Lord Bilimoria had originally advocated for a post-study work visa.

The former home secretary Suella Braverman had already proposed a crackdown on foreign students sponsoring dependents, which means that starting in January 2024, applicants who are not enrolled in postgraduate courses classified as research programs will not be permitted to bring family members on their visa.