The new points-based visa system will replace the tier-4 visa system. The changes will come to effect from October 5.
In a bid to encourage more overseas students to study in the UK, Prime Minister Borris Johnson introduced a new visa route which is a points based system.
Under this new system, the students will be required to attain 70 points to obtain a visa.
The overseas students including Indians can achieve these points by:
- Showing that they have an offer from an approved educational institution.
- Can speak in English fluently.
- Prove that they can support themselves financially during their study period.
Students can now make a visa application just 6 months before the curriculum starts and they don’t have to submit the proof of academic qualifications along with their visa application.
India accounts for the UK’s largest group of overseas students. Last year, nearly 50,000 Indian students have been granted the visa.
Barbara Wickham, the director of the British Council said that the new student route is a welcome move for thousands of Indian students who opt to study in the United Kingdom every year to gain international exposure.
This new point based visa system will offer greater flexibility and ease of immigration for the applicants.
The UK also offers many post study work benefits and with this new visa system, the country has further solidified its commitment to international students.
How the points-based visa route will help Indian students?
Barbara Wickham has said that the new visa system will offer flexibility and the immigration process will be made easy for the Indian students.
Now that the UK has left the European Union, the UK wishes to introduce this points based visa system in summer 2021 to ensure that the brightest and the best Indian students choose to study in UK.
The decision has come after many international students are choosing to postpone their entry into the courses in the UK until the Spring next year due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
As a result, the UK government chose to introduce this new system so that international students continue to pick the UK for pursuing their educational endeavors.
The new visa system route is also aimed at increasing the number of international students in the UK education system each year to 600,000 by 2030.
Earlier, India had urged the UK government to look into student visa policies that did not allow Indian students to work in the Uk after the completion of education. The post study work visa scheme was expired in 2012 and then former PM Theresa May has scrapped it.
The UK also offers many post study work benefits and with this new visa system from next year.
Besides the new visa route, the UK government is also looking forward to introducing the Child Student route for younger international students from October 5.
By Gayatri Yellayi
