96% of foreign students go home – but 50,000 a year stay on illegally

AT LEAST 50,000 foreign visitors are remaining illegally in Britain after their visas expire, a report has revealed.

The first study of ‘exit checks’ at the border found 3.7 per cent of non-EU international students, workers and tourists did not leave on time.

The Home Office found that 96.3 per cent of the 1.34million whose visas ran out in 2016-17 flew home.

This meant 49,311 did not and unlawfully remained in the UK, fuelling fears that some had vanished and found work illegally. The figures also showed that more than 97.4 per cent of 181,024 students from outside the EU had complied with the terms of their visa by departing.

This casts doubt on official immigration statistics which previously suggested many international students exploited the visa regime after enrolling on courses at colleges or universities.

It is not clear what had happened to the remaining 2.6 per cent – or 4,617 – whose visas had expired but they potentially remained in the UK without permission.

Lord Green of Deddington, chairman of MigrationWatch, described student migration as a ‘success story’ for the Government.

He said: ‘The exit checks show that students are now very largely leaving when they should.’

Exit checks were reintroduced by the Government two years ago after being scrapped by Labour in 1998.