Experts say genuine students’ prospects are safe though. The home secretary was answering a query following the ban on visa applications from India and Nepal.

As per the declared reforms, firstly, NVQ visa is bound to suffer greatly as there are provisions to withdraw the freedom given for the dependents of NVQ visa holders to work in the UK.

Secondly, the existing provision for 20 hours’ work given to those who come for degree level or below degree level will be reduced to 10 hours.

Thirdly, those applicants away from European Union need to speak English with a level just below JCSE. Now what is being followed is basic level.

Fourthly, those who come for courses that are no longer than six months can neither bring in their dependants nor are they allowed to work.

However, those institutions that have got their names listed in the highly trusted sponsors alone will be allowed to offer placement to students, who pursue course below six months’ duration.

Though the home office is said to have been taking measures to plug illegal migration via student visa channel, thanks to the different types of students who manage to migrate, there is still room for loopholes. There are two types of students from non-European countries: one is genuine students whose aim is to pursue their higher studies. The second ones are those nurses who come under NVQ channel. This is the most widely misused channel. So, what the home office is going to do with NVQ will decide on the future of countless such visa holders who are already there in the UK. The ban imposed to visa applications from India and Nepal has something to do with this NVQ because of the attraction NVQ has over the other option; that is the NVQ dependants are permitted to work full time. Now, this provision is getting removed.

When it comes to the language requirements like GCSE level, it is worth noting that this provision is found only in the rulebooks because a tougher language requirement like IELTS is already in place and a minimum of six is what most of the institutions demand for a visa.

At the end of the day, how is this visa ban going to affect both the nations, India and the UK? Here it is worth mentioning that putting restrictions in place is good to cut down on fake candidates. But the scare like the one India and Nepal had had lately by way of a ban on visas applications is not going to augur well for the UK.

So, the home office has to clarify still further as to show how sure are those genuine student applicants, who contribute greatly to the academic revenue of a huge number of institutions. No one can ignore the fact that these students eventually contribute greatly to the intellectual and developmental superiority of the UK. Indian intelligence is something no nation can do without in today’s knowledge driven world.

Is this outright ban on visa processing affordable to the UK anymore? Wouldn’t it make India think in terms of accommodating its intellectual capital back in its soil itself and thereby, enjoy still stronger economy in the coming future?
India is very much aware of why Indian students fly overseas. The same way the UK knows it pretty well why its institutions rope in foreign students. If this present impasse on student visa is to be sorted out, there needs to be clarity in rules and consistency in their implementation.

If the proposed phasing out of Tier 4 is going to be effected, it would be a better idea to re-introduce the time-tested discretionary power of the mission officers, and the requirement that all student visa applicants must prove their source of funds, of course with genuine credentials. These two had been able to control visa malpractices for long. The present state of affairs shows that a going back to the old rule books is a better proposition than introducing fresh complex conditions.