UK: New immigration route for international students to open early

In an official News Release dated September 10, 2020, the UK Government has announced that the “New routes for international students to apply for visas will open early” in keeping with the commitment of the UK Government to introduce a new points-based immigration system.

With the new UK immigration routes for international students opening early, both the Student route as well as the Child Student route will be opening on October 5, 2020, “to the best and brightest international students from across the globe”.

According to the International Education Strategy – global potential, global growth published in March 2019, “The UK has a global reputation for education, characterised by excellence and quality. Our global education offer encompasses the full range of the education spectrum …”.

As per the Report, in 2014-15, international students and their visitors supported an estimated 940,000+ jobs in the UK. Many of the international students that come to the UK tend to stay on, often as graduate innovators setting up various enterprises across the country.

As per the Report, the UK government has plans for growing “the numbers of international higher education students studying in the UK to 600,000 by 2030”.

The decision for opening the UK Student and Child Student early has been prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As per the News Release, the introduction of these new routes at this point in time will enable students to gain from the “new streamlined process” while at the same time giving the sponsors “time to adapt after their autumn intake”.

The new routes treat all international students on an equal footing. All overseas-born students – including those coming to the UK from Europe after the transition period is over – will be taking the same, simplified route.

The new Student route is being promoted as an improvement on the previous Tier 4 route by making the process more streamlined for sponsoring institutions and their students. The new UK points-based student route is expected to make a clearer pathway for international students.

With the new immigration routes for international students, the UK aims to remain competitively placed in a dynamic global education market.

A total of 70 points will be required by the international students “to be granted leave”. While up to 50 points are set aside for meeting the Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies requirement, maximum 10 points each are allotted for the English language requirement and financial requirement.

Student route points

Points type	Number of points
Study	50
Financial	10
English language	10

There is to be no cap or limit on the total number of international students that can come to the UK.

If you are looking to Study, Work, Visit, Invest or  Migrate to the UK, talk to Y-Axis, the World’s No.1 Immigration & Visa Company.

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