Indian students in Britain on the rise

LONDON: After a drop of more than 50% in the number of Indian students coming to the United Kingdom since 2010, there has been a notable increase in the year ending September 2017, new figures released on Thursday show.

The Office for National Statistics( ONS) said 14,081 Indian students enrolled for courses in British higher education institutions during the year, amounting to a 27% increase over the previous year.

The figures also showed that Indian professionals were given the largest number of work visas during the year: 53,009 out of 93,700, or 57% of work visas granted, indicating that British companies continue to look to India to fill vacancies as the country prepares to leave the European Union.

On student visas, the ONS said three nationalities - China, the United States and India - accounted for more than half (52%) of the 224,392 study-related visas granted in the year ending September 2017, with the largest number going to Chinese nationals (88,258 or 39% of the total ).

Indians also got some of the largest number of visit visas granted during the year. “There were notable increases in Visitor visas granted to Chinese nationals, up by 92,034 (20%) to 542,875 (excluding Hong Kong), and Indian nationals, up 42,123 (11%) to 427,737, and together these two nationalities accounted for almost half (47%) of all visit visas granted,” ONS said.

Overall, net migration fell by nearly 230,000 one year after the Br exit vote. Nicola White, head of migration statistics at ONS, said: “The decline follows historically high levels of immigration and it is too early to say whether this represents a long-term trend.”