New UK student visa restrictions overturned by court
July 12 2010 by Liam Clifford
New rules to be re-evaluated
Rules that would have prevented UK student visa holders moving to the UK unless they had sufficient language skills, have been overturned by a judge.
The decision
to block the new UK immigration restrictions, introduced by former Home
Secretary Alan Johnson, has been welcomed by language schools across the
country.
The ruling came from Mr Justice Foskett, who criticised the fact
that the new rules were to be established through changes to existing
guidelines. He concluded that the rules should have been legally binding, which
would have required them to be approved by parliament.
English UK, a
group that represents 440 language schools around the UK, is celebrating the
ruling. The group’s chief executive, Tony Milns, said, “We believe that his
decision is good for the UK economy, to which the English language sector
contributes about £1.5 billion in foreign earnings each year.”
Now, the
new Home Secretary, Theresa May, has a choice to make if she still wants to
introduce measures to prevent people abusing the UK student visa system. She can
either remake Alan Johnson’s rules and make sure the are approved by MPs before
being introduced, or she can postpone any changes until the effects of her new
cap on non-EU UK immigration are established.
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