Keir Starmer urged to slash number of graduate visas
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been urged to scrap the graduate visa for thousands of international students as universities have provided “backdoor access” for longer-term settlement, according to a leading think tank.
The government unveiled its immigration white paper aimed at getting net migration levels down, with the period during which graduates are able to stay after completing a degree set to fall to 18 months.
But researchers at Policy Exchange have called on the government to clamp down on international undergraduates by ending graduate visa routes for all students other than those on postgraduate research degrees.
The government does not publish data on allocation of graduate visas between degree levels, with 147,051 graduate route extensions granted to main applicants in the year to June 2024.
Policy Exchange pointed to the uptick in the number of international undergraduates at Oxford University as an example of the surge in students arriving to enrol in non-PhD or master’s level degrees.
The right-leaning think tank also warned a proposed youth mobility scheme that opened student loans back up to EU students would cost the Treasury £2bn in loan debt not repaid within five years.
The calculations come as EU officials are reportedly urging Labour officials to allow European students to pay the same tuition fees as British students.
Labour ministers are weighing up a number of changes to the UK immigration system to improve integration and UK economic prospects, with Keir Starmer’s immigration reforms being introduced in parliament on Tuesday.
The government’s own internal analysis suggests graduate visas were in part failing to drive the UK economy, with a recent survey showing more than a fifth of graduate route users were jobseekers.
The document published by the Home Office also showed that just one in ten people who had graduate visas earned more than £40,000.
Nearly half earned between £20,000 and £30,000, well below the £38,7000 salary threshold for skilled worker visas, which people on the graduate route transition onto after the stay period expires.
‘Sell education, not immigration’
The immigration white paper revealed the government was considering introducing a levy on higher education providers’ income to be reinvested in higher education and employment, with the new tax likely to be unveiled at this year’s Autumn Budget.
Policy Exchange suggested an annual levy worth £1000 should be introduced as a condition of the graduate visa with “students at the most research-intensive universities” to be exempt from paying the tax.
Another key recommendation made by researcher Zachary Marsh also involved boosting English-language requirements for students, with providers to be stripped of powers to conduct their own assessments.
“UK universities must return to the business of selling education, not immigration,” Marsh said.
“Whilst international students can provide valuable economic benefits, the current system drives migration by those who have no interest in study but instead see the student and graduate visa as an open door to working in the UK.”
Policy Exchange‘s immigration researcher David Goodhart said the education sector had become a “backdoor for unprecedented levels of migration that are neither beneficial, short term nor controlled”.
Shadow education minister Neil O’Brien said:” The current system isn’t working for too many students, who are promised great things but find themselves having to pay back huge sums on very low wages.
“Too many students are being ripped off and we have to ask whether there are better uses of taxpayers’ money that will leave young people better off.”