Research by government’s statistics watchdog casts doubt on supposed high level of students overstaying their visasOfficial estimates of international students remaining in the UK are “potentially misleading” and should be treated with caution, according to the government’s statistics watchdog. In recent years ONS figures showing non-EU student inflow and outflow have suggested that around 90,000 former international students a year have remained in the UK. Ed Humpherson, the OSR’s director general, said the ONS’s migration statistics quarterly report (MSQR) – which contains estimates of migration to and from the UK – should carry more prominent health warnings on its limitations. “This ‘balance of flows’ figure compares two different student migrant populations: those entering to the UK for formal study and those leaving the UK for formal study. Living expenses paid by non-EU and EU overseas students at British universities totaled more than £6bn a year.

Source: The Guardian July 27, 2017 19:30 UTC