The UK government will change the immigration rules to make it easier for overseas students and researchers to seek work in the country, signalling a shift to a more welcoming approach. The changes — which include plans to allow students to apply to switch to skilled worker visas as soon as they complete their courses rather than having to wait until their degrees are awarded — were detailed in Budget documents published on November 22. 

There are also suggestions from some in the education sector that the home office — taking a fresh approach to the international student issue under home secretary Amber Rudd — is preparing to extend a pilot scheme that has eased visa rules for students applying to Masters courses at the universities of Bath, Cambridge and Oxford, and Imperial College London. But major issues around the UK’s post-Brexit treatment of European Union researchers, graduate workers and students remain to be resolved in the government’s immigration Bill.

The Budget ‘Red Book’ says the government will “change immigration rules to enable world-leading scientists and researchers endorsed under the Tier I (Exceptional Talent) route to apply for settlement after three years; make it quicker for highly skilled students to apply to work in the UK after finishing their degrees; and reduce red tape in hiring international researchers and members of established research teams, by relaxing the labour market test and allowing the UK’s research councils and other select organisations to sponsor researchers”.

The changes allow a student to switch to a Tier II skilled worker visa as soon as she finishes her studies or has undertaken the final exam instead of waiting until receipt of her degree. That adjustment is thought to have come in response to universities telling the home office that the current rules cause particular difficulties for Masters students, who often must wait several months after their course for their degree.

Meanwhile, the change to the Exceptional Talent scheme knocks two years off the current five-year wait for eligibility for settlement under this programme, which is aimed at “existing global leaders or promising future leaders” in a range of sectors. It comes after the number of visas available annually under this scheme doubled from 1,000 to 2,000. The legislation changing the immigration rules is thought to be scheduled for spring.