Third of foreign student visas issued in UK 'lack credibility'

London, July 16 (ANI): A third of visas issued to foreign students should never have been issued with up to 70,000 foreign undergraduates applications 'lacking credibility', a government survey has found.

According to The Telegraph, the survey found that three out of five visas given to students from India and Nigeria were found to 'lack credibility'.

The survey found that the students have intention to remain in Britain, failed to speak English and had no desire to complete their degree were the top three reasons given to Home Office investigators.

The survey is part of a crackdown on student visas that have for many years been abused with paperwork being the sole criteria for applications rather than face-to-face interviews.

Despite having certificates showing that they are qualified English speakers, hundreds of students could not answer the most basic questions in interviews without an interpreter.

A sixth of those applying as university undergraduates and two-thirds of those at private colleges were considered to have suspicious applications, the Home Office interviewers concluded in a move to crackdown on bogus student visas.

It comes after Damian Green, the immigration minister, announced that the UK Border Agency would interview up to 14,000 students to weed out those who were in Britain on false claims.

With almost half, 48 percent, of all Pakistani applicants considered to be falsified all applicants from the country will now be individually interviewed as part of an immigration crackdown.

The Home Office study found that hundreds of bogus applications were also being made from the Philippines (53 percent), China, (32 percent) and Kenya (16 percent), but none from America or Canada. (ANI)