UK to let new Indian students work 20 hrs/week during term

LONDON: Britain has said hat Indian students visiting to study-first-time undergraduates and postgraduates will be allowed to work for 20 hours a week during term time and fulltime during holidays.

"From September, students who come from India, both for UG and PG courses, will be allowed to work," a UK Visas and Immigration official told TOI. "We're only rying to curb students who continue studying vocational courses (just) to work in he UK." Under new rules, students wanting to continue studying in UK - repeat degrees - will now have to show that it is leading to education progression.

UK has announced a series of changes to the immigration rules, many of which relate to the Tier 4 type student visa. One can apply for a Tier 4 (General) student visa to study in the UK if they are 16 or over and have been offered a place on a course.

From August, new students at publicly funded colleges will be prevented from working. The rules will also allow university students to study a new course at the same level, but only where there is a link to their previous course or the university confirms that this supports the student's career aspirations.

This will be supported by credibility interviews and sanctions against universities who abuse this rule. The rules also ban college students from being able to extend their Tier 4 visas in the UK unless they are studying at an embedded college. This will require them to leave and apply for a new visa from outside UK if they wish to study another course.