A major review of a visa which allowed more than 114,000 foreign students to remain in Britain last year has still not begun – three months after it was announced by James Cleverly.
The Home Secretary pledged to look again at the ‘graduate visa’ scheme when he unveiled a package of measures to cut legal migration on December 4.
But the Home Office has confirmed the review has yet to be launched. Last week figures showed the scheme allowed 114,409 foreign students to extend their stay by two years after completing a course, up 57 per cent year on year.
Mr Cleverly said the Government’s official advisers on immigration policy would be commissioned to review the scheme. However, he has yet to write to the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to give them the go-ahead. The reason for the delay is unknown.
The pledge was one of Mr Cleverly’s main announcements in a series of initiatives to reduce record levels of migration.
The Home Secretary, James Cleverly, pledged to look again at the ‘graduate visa’ scheme when he unveiled a package of measures to cut legal migration on December 4.
But the Home Office has confirmed the review has yet to be launched. Last week figures showed the scheme allowed 114,409 foreign students to extend their stay by two years after completing a course, up 57 per cent year on year. (file photo)
A research briefing by the House of Commons, published last month, said: ‘The Home Office was supposed to commission [MAC] to begin work on the graduate visa review in January 2024, although it had not yet done so at time of writing. The committee is expected to report in late 2024.’
The graduate visa was introduced in 2021 and also allows the dependants of former students to remain for up to two years. Data shows Indian nationals were the largest group granted leave to remain under the scheme last year, with 50,053 successful applications.
It comes as Office for National Statistics figures show net migration – the difference between immigrants arriving in Britain long-term and those emigrating – hit 745,000 in 2022. A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The MAC will be commissioned in due course.’
The latest figures show 150 small-boat migrants reached Britain on Thursday, marking the busiest period in the Channel since September. Between Sunday and Thursday there were 1,103 arrivals, with 401 on Monday alone.
A former Tory minister has also accused the Government of ‘deleting’ vital data on the impact of immigration.
Neil O’Brien said information about the effects of immigration on Britain’s welfare system, tax take, crime levels and prison system is not being gathered or is being withheld.
The Office for National Statistics has even stopped gathering details on how many foreign nationals are living in Britain, Mr O’Brien claimed.
The MP, who served as a health and levelling up minister, said: ‘We should try to improve the data available to policymakers. But… even the most basic data is missing.’
An ONS spokesman said it was ‘transforming the way it produces population and migration statistics using the best available data. We’ll be providing an update on this important work later this year’.