Sajid Javid, the UK Home Secretary, announced easing of Tier 4 visa restrictions for nationals of some Countries. Some global students reaching on an UK visa to study, at the universities will not have to prove their speaking abilities in English, or provide a proof of having sufficient funds for supporting their life in Britain. Moreover, the visa categories need a rethink and the present Visa System is expensive, unjust and bureaucratic. When the Brexit will happen, there will be a need of a different UK visa system. The present system is not suitable in dealing with an enlarged demand for UK visas after Brexit.
The UK Home Secretary has simplified the Tier 4 visa process for the applicants of such countries which have a low risk in abusing the system. Furthermore, this decision shows the way to thousands of global students to attend leading universities.
Relaxed UK visa rules
Some critics feel that with the relaxed norms Britain will open its borders to under-qualified or bogus students. They will beat border controls and slip through the net. The Home Office says that there is no proof that students can exploit the system.
With the continuation of the reforms there is a relaxation of Tier 4 visa restrictions. This is the initiative of Mr Javid as the Home Secretary. Also there are other highlights of his tenure which include
a) Changes in the Tier 1 Exceptional Talent visa
b) Introduction of a new Start-up visa
c) Removal from the Tier 2 visa cap of doctors and nurses.
Moreover, the new rules will permit the NHS to employ more overseas staff, and free up other employers/businesses to recruit 8,000 extra skilled, non-EU workers. The professionals likely to benefit are teachers’ engineers, and IT professionals.
Addition of 11 nations
Furthermore, in the Tier 4 visa shakeup, the Home Office made an addition of 11 nations in the trusted list for easing the student visa application process. These are China, Bahrain, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Kuwait, Indonesia, Macau, Mexico, Maldives, Thailand and Serbia.
The Students of these nations will benefit from the streamlined process, and also require less documents to support the applications.
No evidence of funding is needed
The international students are now exempt from providing proof of funds of £1,265 for supporting themselves during their studies. Statistics for the year ending in March 2018, show that 100,769 students from these 11 nations received permission to study.
Universities welcome changes
The UK universities widely welcomed these changes. They had lobbied for easing the restrictions for foreign students extensively. An important fact is that the international students enrich the UK by £2.3 billion every year.
Countries presently existing on the trusted Student visa list are Argentina, U.A.E., Australia, Taiwan, Barbados, New Zealand, Botswana,Brunei, Canada, Japan, Chile, Hong Kong, Qatar, Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, and the USA .
