Scottish Minister urges granting of post-study work visas to Indian students

John Swinney, Scotland’s deputy first minister, who visited Delhi and Mumbai in the first week of December with a group of representatives from 11 universities of Scotland, voicing his concerned over the stringent post-study visa regulations that Indian students were being subjected to in the UK, said that though Scotland wants to welcome more students from India to its educational institutions, they needed to ensure that they are able to stay much longer than now after they complete their courses. Currently, there are said to be more than 1,300 Indian students pursuing their education in Scotland. He was quoted by The Economic Times as saying that in the past, they have had attractive schemes, which also included the fresh talent scheme to allow overseas students, many of them from India, to stay back in Scotland to float businesses and contribute to its economy after they completed their studies. Swinney said that their government was eager again to launch such schemes. He said that students from India in Scotland proposed a variety of advanced and creative schemes and Scotland would profit if they could make them stay longer on its shores. He said Scotland had shortages and it required more skilled youngsters for its economy to develop further. Ruing the fact that these decisions could not be taken by the Scottish government, Swinney said they felt that the UK government’s stringent policy on the post-study visas for overseas students should be more practical. According to him, universities in Scotland offered a broad spectrum of courses in law, science, medicine, humanities and arts and world-class research facilities. A lot of Indian students have brilliant entrepreneurial concepts but lack the resources to work on them further, said Swinney. He added that they were robbing them of the opportunity to develop their ideas further by not letting them stay in Scotland. If you are looking to travel to Scotland, get in touch with Y-Axis, a premier consultancy for immigration services, to apply for a visa.