Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of non-EU students who will be affected each year by recently announced restrictions on college visas for entering the UK.

The Immigration Rules changes laid before the House on 13 July do not prevent non-EU students from entering the UK to study at colleges. They prevent new students at publicly funded colleges from working, bringing their work rights into line with those at private colleges, and reduce the length of time that college students can spend studying further education courses. They also affect college students’ ability to extend their Tier 4 visa or switch to another visa route whilst in the UK, unless they are at an embedded college with a formal, direct link to a university.