THERE is “no evidence” of a major problem with international students overstaying their rights to stay in the UK, new figures show.
Until now government estimates have suggested up to 90,000 people a year fail to leave when their student permissions run out.
But yesterday the first data compiled from exit checks showed this is a major overestimation and the true number is around 4,600.
The checks were put in place two years ago and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the previous calculation method was “likely to underestimate” the number of leavers.
The findings triggered further pressure on Theresa May’s government to rethink its immigration target and came as Amber Rudd’s Home Office announced a new probe into the impact of overseas learners on the UK.
Iain Bell, deputy national statistician for population and public policy, said: “Recent cohorts of non-EU students are, to a very large extent, compliant with their visas.
“This work crucially demonstrates two things. First, that many people do not simply immigrate for study and leave afterwards – their lives are more complex.
“Second, there is no evidence of a major issue of non-EU students overstaying their entitlement to stay.”
Of those whose visas expired in 2016 and 2017, as many as 69 per cent of the international students left the UK, while a further 26 per cent extended their visas for further study or for other reasons such as work. The remaining five per cent have no identified record of departure or extension, or appeared to depart after their visa had expired, according to ONS.
Economics and public policy expert Professor Jonathan Portes, of King’s College London, said the results “emphasise once again the folly of the Government’s net migration target. The sooner it is dropped the better”.
Meanwhile, Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of Migration Watch UK, described student migration as a “success story” for the government, saying: “Students are now very largely leaving when they should.”
A Home Office spokesperson said exit checks show that the vast majority of people granted visas since 2015 have been compliant with immigration rules.
The department also said information from exit checks has already been “invaluable” to the police and security services, who have used it to help track known criminals and terrorists.
Carol Monaghan, the SNP’s Westminster spokesperson on education, said: “International students who come to the UK to study at our world leading universities is something to be celebrated and encouraged, not met instead by plans for a crackdown by a reckless Tory government obsessed with migration numbers and a hard Brexit.
“So long as Theresa May has any remaining influence and this Tory government continues down this path, then a government review of policy on international students will simply mean misguided crackdowns and ramped up rhetoric that will seriously damage the ability of our universities to attract top international students.
“The UK Government must take steps in the right direction and remove international students from the net migration target.”
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