The Indian nationals have emerged as the fastest growing for the applications of student visa to the United Kingdom, as observed in the new official statistics that have been released on Thursday.
It has been found by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) of the United Kingdom that over 37,500 Indian students have received a Tier 4 visa for study in the year 2019 which is said to be an increase of 93 per cent when compared to the previous year and it is also said to be the largest number of visa that have been issued in the Tier 4 category to the Indian nationals in the last eight years.
The Indian professionals have also held on to their global lead in the category of Tier 2 skilled visa for the United Kingdom with over 57,000 visas being granted to the workers of India during the last year which has accounted to over 50 per cent of such visas.
Jan Thompson who is the acting high commissioner to India has said that the the phenomenal increase that has been observed regarding the student visa numbers is said to be testament both to the world leading education system in the United Kingdom and also to the exceptional talents of the students of India.
She added saying that, “We couldn’t be prouder that the best and brightest continue to pick the UK, making the living bridge between our countries stronger each day.”
The upward trend that has been observed from the students of India shall also be impacted by the introduction of a new Graduate Visa route which has been launched recently for the intake of the international students in the years 2020- 21 as it provides an option for post- study for two years.
Barbara Wickham who is the director of India in the British Council has added saying that he feels excited and happy as many number of the students from India are trusting the United Kingdom as the destination for building their educational careers.
The United Kingdom is continued to be a popular destination for the holiday makers from India with more than 5,15,000 nationals of India are being granted visit or the tourists visas the last year with an increase of about eight per cent when compare to the last year.
It has been observed in the over all statistics that out of the 95 per cent of the Indian nationals who have applied for the visa for United Kingdom have been successful in the year 2019 which is said to be showing an increase of over 5 per cent when compared to the year 2018.
It has been revealed by the latest Office for National Statistics that a border post- Bretix trend of making a rise in the migration from outside the European Union (EU) has set for a further hike after the points- based system which has been newly decided by the government of the United Kingdom which is said to get implemented from the first of January in the next year 2021.
Jay Lindop who is the Director of the Centre for International Migration at the Office for National Statistics has said that, “EU net migration has fallen, while non-EU net migration has gradually increased since 2013 and is now at the highest level since 2004.”
“Since 2016, immigration for work has decreased because of fewer EU citizens arriving for a job. Meanwhile, immigration for study has gone up and is now the main reason for migration. This is driven by more non-EU students arriving, specifically Chinese and Indian,” as said by Jay Lindop.
The exit of Britain from the European Union is said to bring the current free movement of people from economic bloc to an end by the the 31st of the month of December when the transition period of Bretix is said to come to an end, which would in turn bring the migrants of the European Union and the non- European Union under one system.
