The trend to Study Abroad: Student visas issued by the UK to Indian nationals increased 102 percent

Mumbai: After the approval of the Indian origin covid-19 vaccine and withdrawal of several restrictions in the United Kingdom (UK) – the trend to study in the UK has been increased gigantically. The UK government has issued around 102 percent more student visas to Indian nationals in the 12 months ending in September 2021.

Compared with the year ending in September 2020, there was an increase of 45,677 (102 percent) student visas granted to Indians, taking the total to 90,669. It was 197 percent higher than the figure of 30,496 visas for the year ending September 2019.

British high commissioner Alex Ellis tweeted on Friday about the increase in the grant of student and skilled worker visas to Indians and said the ‘huge demand is why turnaround of visas is taking longer than usual.

According to the British immigration statistics, skilled worker visas issued to Indians during the same period were up 47 percent.

In July, the UK opened a new graduate immigration route that benefited Indian students by allowing them to stay longer in Britain after finishing their studies to look for jobs.

The statistics released by the UK home office on Thursday showed that Indians were also the top nationality granted high-value work visas, accounting for around one-sixth of 17 percent of the total.

The number of Indian students in the UK had dipped since 2012 when the post-study work visa was scrapped and more Indians began going to European countries such as France and Germany for higher studies.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, in the year ending September 2019, China, India, and Pakistan had been the top three nationalities in this category.

(Vinayak Barot)