UK Student Visas overstay overrated by the government

The latest data has revealed that UK Student Visas overstay has been in fact overrated by the government. It indicates that the UK is not having a chronic issue with overseas students’ misuse of its immigration system by overstaying. The previous estimates of the government reveal huge inconsistency for the departure and arrival of students via the UK Student Visas.

The inconsistency has been frequently attributed to overseas students remaining in the UK illegally after the expiry of their UK Student Visas. On the other hand, the first ever statistics based on accurate exit checks compiled by the National Statistics Office indicate that this claim could be actually false.

176, 407 overseas students exited the UK in time out of the total 181,024 expired UK Student Visas which is 97.4% exit on time. On the other hand, similar statistics were revealed for overseas workers in the UK via Tier 2 Visas with 95.4% and visitor visas with 96.7%. On the whole, 96.3% of UK visa holders exited the nation before the expiry of their visas, as quoted by the Workpermit.

The report of the ONS focused on 1.3 million UK visas approved to nationals from the non-EEA area that expired in the fiscal year 2016 and 2017 and said that there was no extension or overstay.  ONS categorically stated that there is no proof to support the claims that non-EU overseas students are staying beyond the validity of their UK Student Visas.

The Shadow Home Secretary of the Labor Party Diane Abbot said that the statistics of the exit checks prove that Theresa May’s lengthy campaign to defame overseas students is based on fantasy. There is no evidence supporting any major issue with overseas students staying beyond visa validity, added Abbot.

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