UKCISA responds to Home Office Immigration White Paper May 2025

Announced on 12 May 2025, the Immigration White Paper, ‘Restoring Control over the Immigration System’ details the government’s proposals for future legislation. This is not currently law or guidance, and the Paper does not include timelines on all proposed changes.  

The measures included in the paper will have a significant impact on UK education providers and their current and prospective international students. If enacted, they will negatively affect the international student experience, make the UK a less attractive destination to study, put our world-leading educational institutions under further strain and risk over £40bn that international students bring to the UK economy.  

The increases in compliance measures, risks of penalties, and financial burdens proposed in this White Paper come at a time when educational institutions are both compliant and under increasing financial pressures.   

International students are not political headlines – they come here to study, to get a world-class education and to experience our culture and society. Their contributions to our communities and our economy are well-documented. Yet these proposals do not recognise the enormous benefits that international students bring to the UK.  

The method of including international students in the net migration statistics should be reviewed, to ensure that they reflect the realities of student immigration and the temporary status that students have in these statistics. 

The proposed reforms 

The Paper proposes reducing the Graduate route visa from two years to 18 months. The intention of the Graduate route, launched in July 2021, was to provide an opportunity for international students who have been awarded their degree to stay in the UK and work, or look for work, at any skill level for two years, or three years for doctoral students. This proposed change ultimately undermines the Graduate route as a choice and makes it very difficult for the UK sector to offer it as a meaningful post-study option. 

Post-study work opportunities are a crucial offer for international students choosing the UK as a study destination, and improve their student experience. International graduates, like their domestic peers, are employed in roles in a range of sectors in all regions of the UK. This reflects the diversity of the UK education offer, and wide-ranging skills they develop during a UK education. The route allows employers without a sponsor licence to recruit from the widest pool of graduate talent. 

By reducing the length of time on the route it is less likely that graduates will be able to achieve the level of employment that this paper suggests they should be securing and makes it more difficult for employers and graduates to access the full benefits of this route as initially intended.  

The White Paper acknowledges that the Student route is generally compliant. Our members work consistently with government colleagues across UK Visas and Immigration to remain complaint - ensuring robust and reactive processes are in place to comply with already high Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) requirements, while maintaining stringent checks on applicants and students, and undertaking robust audit processes. The UK sector's adherence to the Agent Quality Framework further demonstrates its commitment to a compliant student immigration system that welcomes talent from across the world.  

The Paper states that the government will introduce a new English language requirement for all adult dependants of workers and students. There are already very few opportunities for dependants to join Students following previous changes to immigration policy. Requiring the few dependants who are eligible to accompany Students to additionally undertake English tests increases the requirements and costs of joining family in the UK. The measure is also more disadvantageous for dependants who are not from English speaking countries. 

The White Paper states that the Government will explore introducing a levy on higher education provider income from international students, to be reinvested into the higher education and skills system. If the government is looking to generate income from a levy on international student recruitment, introducing policies that potentially reduce the number of international students coming to the UK, would damage both university finances and the proposed levy income. 

UKCISA will continue to represent the interests of international students and our members in our ongoing engagement with government and other stakeholders.  We will monitor and respond to further measures and impacts on students and their family members coming out of this White Paper. We will share developments on the progress of these proposed changes as and when that happens. Listening to and working with our members and international students, we will continue to work for a positive experience for all international students in the UK.  

The UK Council for International Student Affairs is the UK’s national advisory body serving the interests of international students and those who work with them. UKCISA’s membership includes every public university in the UK, private HE providers, the majority of publicly-funded further education colleges which are active internationally, a number of independent schools and private colleges as well as a range of specialist and representative bodies.