Mitigation & immigration

**Ahead of his latest trade promotion trip to India, David Cameron said that he likes his curries “pretty hot”.**

I hope his Indian hosts take him up on this and, if it’s anything like the time I made the mistake of ordering a “pretty hot” curry, that they’ll serve him up the fieriest vindaloo this side of Delhi and watch, smirking, as he tries to keep the tears out of his eyes. Perhaps then he’ll come close to comprehending the suffering he has inflicted on thousands of international students this past year.

If Cameron were anyone besides a politician, his treatment of international students last April with the abolition of the Tier 1 (Post-study work) visa would have been considered tantamount to fraud. The Tier 1 visa let international students stay in the UK for up to two years post-graduation to seek work. They now have a mere three months. The UK Border Agency described its purpose as “aim[ing] to retain the most able international graduates who have studied in the United Kingdom enhanc[ing] the United Kingdom’s overall offer to international students”.

Thoroughly strange, then, that he’s now jetting off to India to promote the UK’s offer to Indian students with the hope of attracting the most able of them.

Students remaining in the UK under Tier 1 would “not be able to claim most benefits paid by the state”. And it’s unlikely that most of them would have been lazing around here anyway. I can’t really speak for India but I know for sure that for a student from China or Singapore, for example, it would be utterly shameful to be living on benefits in the UK after graduation.

The abolition was fraud in two ways: firstly, it cheated the public into thinking the problem of immigration was being resolved, as it did nothing to tackle migrants who abused the system. Secondly, it broke the promise to international students who had applied for their studies before the abolition was announced that they would be able to remain here after graduation. A great many would have considered studying elsewhere had they been forewarned of this.

When Cameron abolished the Tier 1 visa, he also abolished the dreams of students who’d wanted to stay in the UK after graduation, many of whom had established lasting ties with the country during their three or more years here.