SU issue statement on ‘send home’ proposals

Warwick’s Students’ Union (SU) has released a statement in response to the ‘send-home’ proposals put forward by Theresa May and the Home Office.

The Home Office’s proposal requires that international students leave immediately after they finish their studies. Students would have to leave the country and re-apply for a new visa if they wanted to continue with further study or take up jobs or graduate placements in the United Kingdom.

This would mark a change to the current system, which involves applying from within the UK if the student has received sponsorship from a potential employer.

The SU stated: “[This is] yet another needless attack on international students who are already studying legally in the UK, have invested substantial time and money in their studies, and are coveted by UK companies for the global experience and skills they can offer the UK economy.”

The sabbatical officer team added: “Students from abroad are less likely to come to the UK in the first instance, and instead choose to study in competing regions like Australia, the USA and Canada.”

The statement goes on to mention that international students should be made to feel welcome in the UK as they provide richness of diversity and contribute to the international experience offered at Warwick.

The team added a final comment to their statement by stating: “We believe that this attempt to pander to immigration scaremongering serves no purpose other than to further alienate international students from the British educational community.”