Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in (1) the period from 1 January to 30 June 2015, (2) 2014, and (3) 2013, how many credibility interviews of potential international students were undertaken by UK Visas and Immigration; in which countries those credibility interviews took place; and what percentage of students who had been issued with a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies and were subject to a credibility interview were refused a visa to study in the United Kingdom.

The number of point of application credibility interviews of Tier 4 applicants conducted by UK Visas and Immigration during the time periods requested can be found in the table below. All of these interviews were conducted via video conference by staff based in the UK.

We are unable to provide information on the percentage of students issued with a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies; interviewed and subsequently refused Entry Clearance. We do not hold this data in a format which would allow us to answer the question, and have estimated that to obtain the necessary information would incur disproportionate cost.

We are able to provide the overall refusal rates for student applications for the time periods requested.

*Data is taken from unpublished management Information and is therefore subject to change.