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The number of foreign students to be granted visas to study in the UK is to be drastically cut as part of a crackdown on abuses of the system, the UK authorities have revealed.

British Home Secretary Alan Johnson has announced tough new rules on foreign students coming to the UK and studying at British colleges and universities. This has been stated to be in response to the foiled attempt by a Nigerian former UK based student to blow up a plane on its approach to Detroit last Christmas.

These new rules will mean a slash & burn policy in foreign students (non-European Union) entering the UK. The new rules will come into force in the next few weeks and will not require parliamentary approval. (Although in his interview with Andrew Marr, the Home Secretary said the rules will come into effect immediately) 

Although the Home Office have given no specific figures, these new rules are tougher than were expected and will certainly mean thousands of hopefuls will not now be able to have their visa applications approved.

The main proposals affecting Filipinos is that the hours of work students are permitted to undertake will be cut to 10 per week from the current 20 per week. Another additional rule is a greater understanding of English language from the present basic level although this should not be a problem for most Filipino student applicants. (The new rules require a sub-GCSE understanding of English which should be equivalent to high school English)

Visas for courses below degree level will also be granted only if the institutions they attend are on a new register, the Highly Trusted Sponsors List. The original DIU register was altered a year ago becoming the Tier 4 register. 

There are also new rules regarding dependants of students. Students on courses lasting less than 6 months will not be able to bring their families stay with them, and more crucially, students on non-degree courses who have their families here will be constrained as those dependants will not be allowed to work.

Home Secretary Alan Johnson made a speech in the House of Commons Friday 5 Jan outlining security measures in the wake of the attempted bombing of the Detroit airliner, these new rules just announced are officially part of this, although some other factors will have been taken into consideration.

It was recently announced by the Home Office that all applications from northern India, Pakistan and Nepal for student visas to enter the UK have been suspended. This was after the number of applications was increased tenfold from this region in the last quarter of last year. This raised suspicions (well-founded) that most were fraudulent.

Investigations in the UK have also revealed that many "students" from the Indian sub-continent have been entering the UK and either not attending the colleges and hiding, or not leaving the UK at the end of the courses.

Added to that has been a crackdown on NVQ colleges in the UK. Changes a year ago tightened up checks on such colleges, introducing the "Tier" system of sponsors; many suspect colleges did not make the transition from the old DIU register and were therefore unable to sponsor students into the UK. Without this sponsor facility, potential students should not be granted those visas. 

This was closely followed up by supplementary investigations into those colleges which were granted sponsor status; this has resulted in 2,000 of the original 4,000 losing this status in the past year, as well as some really suspect colleges being closed where clear evidence of fraud was available. 

Not helping matters have been well publicised fiascos where a lot of colleges have gone bust or owners have fled, leaving thousands of students high and dry with no qualifications having paid thousands of pounds to enter the UK. Affinity Training and Precision Training were two of the most spectacular disasters. 

There have also been serious concerns about non existent colleges getting sponsor status allowing illegal immigrants to enter the UK. The attempted Christmas Day bomber had previously been a student in the UK but had then been refused a new visa. This security issue now allows the Home Office to bring in the stringent new rules. 

Part of the problems can also be placed at the doors of the Home Office, the Borders & Immigration Agency and VFS who are the British Government's sub-contractors handling visa applications.

The British Government's attempts at cost cutting have been fraught with problems. This has seen the cutting of diplomatic staff who originally handled visa applications with the handing of the main processing of visa applications over to a commercial company, VFS. 

Beside the teething problems in the changeover that began a few years ago, one of the main factors has been that applications for student visas are handled at arms length with virtually no face-to-face interviews taking place now.

This has meant that where an applicant may have been refused, they can reapply again and again. With no face-to-face interviews, where an entry visa officer who would normally have been a diplomat could act on instincts as well as documentary evidence, paper and internet applications are easily manipulated.

This attempt at cost cutting and sub-contracting out entry clearance procedures has not been a success.  

SHORT VERSION OF INTERVIEW ON THE ANDREW MARR SHOW