Foreign students will be forced to leave UK when their course ends

All students from outside the European Union face ban on working in the UK under new immigration curb

British Home Secretary Theresa May on Saturday announced foreign students will not be allowed to work in the United Kingdom and will be forced to leave the country once their courses end.

As per a new policy proposed by the British Home Office, foreign students will be barred from applying for a visa extension once their course finishes and will have to return home before reapplying for a job.

The rules are being tightened after Home Office officials detected an increased fraud at certain publicly funded colleges and immigration ‘advisers’ advertising college visas as a way to work in the UK.

Ministers are of the opinion that the new policy will ensure colleges are not used as “back door to a British visa”. Further, the policy is not applicable to European Union students.

According to official figures, 121,000 non-EU students entered the UK in the 12 months to June last year but only 51,000 left, a net influx of 70,000.

Read: UK police ‘pursuing’ child grooming suspect who fled to Pakistan

The government estimated that the number of foreign students entering the UK will significantly rise by more than six per cent a year up to 2020.

The British home secretary has also taken action against 870 fake colleges and banned them from taking foreign students.

Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said it was "part of our plan to control immigration for the benefit of Britain."

"Immigration offenders want to sell illegal access to UK jobs market and there are plenty of people willing to buy. Hardworking taxpayers who are helping to pay for publicly funded colleges expect them to be providing top class education, not a back door to a British work visa,' he continued.

Read: British newspaper apologises for incorrect story on British Muslims' support for Islamic State

Business Secretary Sajid Javid also signalled on Friday that the government would stop the education system being abused by immigrants.

"What we need to make sure is that our immigration system allows those from abroad that want to come to Britain to study in our world-class universities, our fantastic colleges to come here,' he said.

"But we've also got to have a system that doesn't allow any abuse when people are using the right to study as a way to achieve settlement in Britain. So we've got to break the link and make sure it's focused on people who want to study and then, once they've had their studies and completed that, then they leave," Javid added.

However, universities are worried the policy could damage the sector and businesses have also warned that the move could deprive Britain of vital skills.

This story originally appeared on Daily Mail.