Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May has revised her position on international students and academics who are now recognised as not having a long-term effect on migration figures. May had held this hardline position since she was home secretary and continued to espouse the same rhetoric during her first few months as Prime Minister.
While students have traditionally been included in the definition of a migrant, in 2017 a study from the Office for National Statistics revealed that on examination of the exit data, there were no long-term issues with students overstaying their visas. The importance of student activity has taken on new prominence due to the proposed immigration bill which has been tabled in Parliament. If the government-backed bill excludes student data there is an increased probability that it could fail but it is recognised that including the data could result a distorted outlook.
