Nigerians and other immigrant students may soon face deportation after completing their studies, according to the latest step in a long-running dispute over foreign student numbers in the UK.
This comes as Suella Braverman, the UK Home Secretary, and the Department of Education discuss the topic of post-study visas for overseas students. According to UK media sources, Braverman is presently attempting to limit the period of time that international students may stay in the UK after graduation.
According to reports, Braverman has pledged to restrict immigration and’substantially reduce’ the number of unskilled foreign workers coming to the UK from 239,000 to tens of thousands.
Furthermore, she wishes to limit the number of overseas students who are eligible to apply for a graduate post-study work visa, which permits any student who has completed their degree to stay and work in the UK for at least two years.
However, the Department for Education is understood to be opposing Braverman’s idea to reduce that to six months, after which they must find a skilled employment that qualifies them for a work visa or leave the UK.
Students who come to the UK to study can currently stay for two years after graduation. Many Nigerians have been drawn to this opportunity since the United Kingdom is often the first place of choice for overseas education.
This is not unrelated to the situation of academic facilities and the poor standard of teaching in Nigerian academic institutions.
“Education officials fear this will make the UK less attractive to foreign students, who pay far more than UK students for their courses and are a major source of income for universities”.
According to data from the UK’s home office, which Nairametrics previously published, the number of study visas granted to Nigerians increased by 222.8%, with 65,929 tickets given as of June 2022, compared to 20,427 in the same time in 2021.
Similarly, additional statistics reveal that Nigerian students and their dependents in the UK contributed an estimated £1.9 billion to the country’s economy.
According to estimates for the 2021-2022 academic year, the working spouses of these students paid a total of £54.3 million in taxes, in addition to a reported sum of £680,620,000 in school fees.
All parties are waiting for the result of this disaster with bated breath.