UK opens a review into the foreign student visa scheme amid fears it is being abused

James Cleverly is launching a major review of graduate visas amid fears they are being abused by foreign nationals.

The Home Secretary will ask independent body the Migration Advisory Committee to revisit the graduate route.

Writing exclusively in today's Mail, he says this will ensure the visa – which currently allows foreign students to stay in the UK for up to two years after their courses end – is 'not being driven by a desire for immigration over education'.

This comes after numbers staying in Britain under the scheme surged by 57 per cent last year to more than 114,000.

There are also fears that courses with the lowest UCAS entry requirements are being targeted as a way into the UK.

'We must prevent abuse of this route; protect the integrity and quality of our higher education; and ensure it works in our best interests,' the Home Secretary says. This comes as restrictions on legal migration come into force.

From today, foreign nationals coming to Britain as care workers will be barred from bringing family members with them. Mr Cleverly announced the move after figures showed 100,000 care workers brought 120,000 relatives here in the year to September 2023.

Care providers seeking to employ foreign care workers in England will also have to register with regulator the Care Quality Commission. This comes after a major Mail investigation revealed last week how rogue operators are exploiting Home Office loopholes, bringing in untrained staff who are sometimes barely able to speak English.

A Home Office spokesman said there was 'clear evidence that care workers have been offered visas under false pretences', either for non-existent jobs or to be exploited by unscrupulous employers.

Later this week legislation will be laid to raise the minimum salary a skilled foreign worker must be paid in order to secure a visa.

It will increase from £26,200 to £38,700 on April 4, except for care workers. Ministers will also abolish a 20 per cent discount on the minimum earnings expected for migrant workers in sectors where Britain has a shortage. In addition, the official list of qualifying 'shortage occupations' will be reformed.

Families who want to bring foreign-based relatives – including new spouses – to the UK will have to show they have access to higher sums to support them, including earnings and savings.

From April 11, the minimum of £18,600 – which has remained the same since 2012 – will increase to £29,000, and then to £38,700 by early next year. The moves are part of a package designed to bring down net migration after it hit a record 745,000 in 2022.

Home Office estimates suggest that when all the measures are in place, net migration – the difference between the number of immigrants coming here long-term and those emigrating – could be cut by 300,000 a year.