UK Visas and Immigration is making changes to student visas.

The main changes will:

·        
stop new students at publicly funded colleges
from working, bringing them in line with those at private colleges (from
August)

·        
allow university students to study a new course
at the same level but only where there’s a link to their previous course or the
university confirms that this supports their career aspirations. 

·        
ban college students from extending their Tier 4
visas in the UK unless they are studying at an ‘embedded college’, one which
has a formal, direct link to a university that is recognised by the Home
Office. This will require them to leave and apply for a new visa from outside
the UK if they wish to study another course (from November)

·        
ban college students from being able to switch
visas to Tiers 2 or 5 in the UK, and require them to apply from outside the UK
(from November)

·        
reduce the time limit for study at further
education level from 3 years to 2 years. This brings the maximum period into
line with the length of time British students generally spend in further
education (from November)

·        
stop Tier 4 dependants from taking a low or unskilled
job, but allow them to take part-time or full-time skilled work (from the
autumn)