Minister's immigration pledge
Immigration minister Damian Green will today promise "smarter" controls on entry to the UK, as he releases research showing that tens of thousands of people admitted on student visas were still in the country five years later.
In his first major speech since the coalition Government took office, Mr Green will acknowledge that the annual cap on economic migrants from outside the EU will not be enough on its own to deliver the target of reducing net immigration to the tens of thousands.
He will promise to look at “all routes into the UK” and set new rules to ensure that only the “brightest and best” migrants enter the country to study and work. And he will give priority to improving controls over foreign students and their dependants, more than 300,000 of whom were granted visas last year.
He will promise to look into why those entering on a temporary basis are currently finding it easy to switch to a permanent basis.