Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what consideration they have given to excluding international students from their net migration target.
There is no limit on the number of international students who can come to the UK and there are no plans to change this. So long as students are compliant with immigration rules they should make a very limited contribution to net migration numbers.
The independent Office for National Statistics is responsible for the production of the net migration statistics. In line with the internationally agreed UN definition these statistics define a migrant as someone changing their normal place of residence for more than a year. Students are therefore included in the same way as other migrants. International students who stay for longer than 12 months, like other migrants, have an impact on communities, infrastructure and services while they are here so it is right that they are included in the net migration count.