News
Friday, May 25, 2012
Tough British immigration laws to affect Pak students* Number of student visas issued to non-Europeans decreasing after new laws
By Asif Mehmood
LONDON: Pakistani students, among others, waiting for settlement in the UK will be badly affected by the new tough immigration rules imposed by the British Home Office, Daily Times has learnt.
The latest figures of the British Home Office, obtained by Daily Times, reveal that number of student visas was down by 62 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to the same period in 2011. The number of work and family visas also decreased. According to the British Home Office’s own research, the new rules had resulted in a big fall in the number of student visas issued to non-Europeans.
Britain’s Immigration Minister Damian Green said, “Our tough new rules are now making a real difference with a record drop in student visas in the first quarter of 2012, and an overall fall in work visas, and number of families and people settling in the UK. As these policies start to take effect, we are seeing an end to the years when net migration was consistently on the rise. But the hangover from the old system of weak controls means it is still too high and we will continue our programme of reforms to bring the net migration down from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands.”
The Migrationwatch UK said the coalition needed to take “tough measures” to tackle the “unacceptable” figures. Migrationwatch UK Chairman Andrew Green said, “You cannot expect to repair 15 years of mismanagement in 15 months, but it is worrying news that net migration is still running at a quarter of a million a year. There is no sign of any reduction from the huge numbers that developed under the Labour governemnt.”
Net immigration to the UK remains above 250,000 a year despite a small fall since the coalition government took over, according to the latest independent figures. British Prime Minister David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May want to reduce the number to under 100,000 by the end of current parliament in 2015. The Office for National Statistics said estimated net migration to Britain – the number of people arriving for more than 12 months minus those leaving – in the year 2011 was 252,000, down only 3,000 compared to the previous year. Long-term immigration fell from 600,000 to 589,000, while emigration also dropped slightly from 345,000 to 338,000.
The left-of-centre think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), has criticised Britain’s coalition governement, saying that net migration was effectively unchanged. IPPR Associate Director Sarah Mulley said, “The government has so far made no progress towards meeting its target of reducing net migration to less than 100,000.”
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk