With accusations of being 'overstayers', the current figures revealed by the Home Office has busted the myths against Indians. Official figures prove that 97% of Indians who visit the UK, including students, return before their visa expires. Applications by Indians living and working in India has also dropped by 4 percent this year.
The figures not only brought cheer in the Indian quarters but also put Prime Minister Theresa May in the spot, who, as the Home secretary since 2010 and now as the Prime Minister, used the ‘overstayers’ card to make it really tough for Indian and other non-EU students to come to Britain.
There is a drop of over 50% in Indian student numbers since 2010, which is also attributed to the closure of Post Study Work visa, that triggered many genuine international students avoiding Britain, as a student loan of £30,000-£40,000 did not justify their one year programme in the UK.
UK universities and other stake-holders lobbied intensely to remove international students from overall migration figures, but May consistently refused to do so. Some studies estimate that the high fee-paying non-EU students generate more than £25 billion for the British economy every year and support over 200,000 jobs.
The UK Home Office found that Indians accounted for 29,800 sponsored visa application in the year ending June 2017. The trend is being attributed to the UK government's tightening of visa regime in an attempt to meet its goal of cutting migrant figures in the country.
The Home Office said, "Indian nationals account for 29,800 (54%) of skilled work sponsored visa applications in year ending June 2017, with US nationals the next largest group (5,686 or 10% of the total).
"The number of sponsored visa applications for Indian nationals was 4 per cent lower in year ending June 2017 and applications for US nationals were 9 per cent lower.”
However, the data based on the UK's Office of National Statistics (ONS) analysis also disclosed that Indians continue to account for the largest number of skilled work visas granted by the UK government - 53,366 of a total of 92,805 or 58 per cent of all work visas granted.
Of these, the Indian information technology sector sponsored 42% of all skilled work visa applications made by Indians.
The new figures have already enthused sections of the Indian community to demand improvement of the visa offer, but it may not happen so soon.
Vince Cable, who was May’s cabinet colleague in the David Cameron coalition government (2010-2015), called on May to apologise for the crackdown on foreign students: “We spent five years trying to persuade the Home Office that the figures they were using as evidence were bogus, but they persisted nonetheless on the basis of these phoney numbers”.
“The consequences were very serious. I would hope they would not just apologise to the individual students, many of whom have paid large fees and even found themselves deported in some cases, but simply acknowledge that the figures are grossly distorted and wrong.”
Shadow Home secretary Diane Abbott believes that May’s “long-running campaign to malign international students is based on fantasy, with no evidence of a major issue with students overstaying”.
“Some in government appear to be waking up to the idea that overseas students make a valuable contribution to our country and have belatedly asked the Migration Advisory Committee to gather evidence”.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and several other MPs have lobbied for India and for taking students out of the net migration figures. Lord Karan Bilimoria has raised his concerns in several of his speeches.
Lord Jitesh Gadhia welcomed the ONS report. He also supported the parallel announcement by the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Amber Rudd MP, that she is commissioning the independent Migration Advisory Committee to undertake a detailed assessment of the social and economic impact of international students in the UK.
Lord Gadhia, who was very close to former PM David Cameron and have been part of PM's several delegations to India, told Asian Voice, "Indian visitors, students and workers bring huge benefits to the UK economy through their purchasing power, academic contributions and skill sets - enriching our country and supporting our position as one of the most open and welcoming countries in the world."
"The new data published today by the Home Office shows that 97% of Indians depart before the expiry of their visas and this compliance rate is above the average of the top 10 visitor countries to the UK.
"Any historic issue of overstayers has now been substantially addressed - particularly the "bogus colleges" - where the Home Office has now revoked over 920 licenses from Further Education Colleges and successfully clamped down on loopholes through a variety of measures.
"Going forward, the UK Government should now have much greater confidence in providing Indian visitors, students and skilled workers with favourable visa access terms which are not discriminatory in any way."
"The Home Secretary's announcement of an independent report into the impact of international students to the UK is very welcome news. International students, including those from India, enrich Britain not just economically but also through their cultural and social contributions, underpinning the UK's soft power quotient throughout the world."
