Britain to announce student visas crackdown

(AFP)

LONDON — Britain is to outline a crackdown on people arriving on student visas Monday as it bids to tighten its immigration system, described by a minister as "largely out of control".

Immigration Minister Damian Green said the government had inherited a system which was "largely out of control" and described the number of foreign students being let in as "unsustainable", in comments quoted by the BBC.

In a speech Monday, he is to call for "smarter immigration controls," according to extracts pre-released by the Home Office.

New Home Office research has revealed that of 186,000 foreign students granted visas in 2004, more than one-fifth were still in Britain five years later. Officials fear many may be working illegally.

The number of visas being issued to students and their dependants had risen to over 300,000 by this year, the figures added.

Green will say that Britain needs "smarter immigration controls -- controls which bear down on the numbers coming and welcome those we really need here."

He will add: "We cannot assume that everyone coming here has skills that the UK workforce cannot offer and we will not make Britain prosperous in the long-term by telling our own workers not to bother to learn new skills as we can bring them all in from overseas."

The Conservatives have promised to cut net migration from hundreds of thousands to tens of thousands annually.