| |
Work And Study Culture in UK
10/2/2010
The UK's announcement that it plans to tighten its student visa regime, following the suspension of student visa applications from northern India last week, seems targeted at students from the Indian subcontinent. It also suggests that the recession may have laid hold of mentalities in the UK. The move is ostensibly to counter the large number of fake applications that come in from abroad. British officials say that the new controls would affect those who entered the country not to study but to work. But coming less than nine months after the introduction of a points-based system to weed out bogus applicants, this looks unnecessary.
Some of the new provisions are extremely tough. For example, students who come in for courses lasting less than six months will not be allowed to bring in dependents. For courses between six months and three years, dependents won't be allowed to work. The number of hours the student himself can work is being cut down from the present 20 hours a week. Instead of imposing restrictions like this, if the UK were to liberalise economic immigration from developing nations such as India, people would not have to resort to exploiting loopholes in the student visa system to enter the country.
Acquiring a student visa on false pretences is expensive and carries the ever-present threat of deportation. But migrants choose to risk it because they believe the rewards outweigh the risk. By opening up their borders to such migrants, Britain and other developed countries would prevent the abuse of the student visa system while simultaneously acquiring labour that would help make their businesses more competitive. Moreover the UK, like other European nations, is an ageing society. One of the best ways to reverse its negative effects is by permitting more immigration.
That's a case that New Delhi should be actively making when it comes to international trade negotiations. In the case of developing societies such as India, labour is a major item of export. Closing doors on Indian labour amounts to a restrictive trade practice. And if the economic benefits of free movement of labour are sought to be played off against local identity issues, that's like placing a ban on Hollywood films because they distort local culture.
|
|
