Member

The Minister’s second objection was a bit puzzling. Those affected by my amendment would be left, he said, in a state of limbo, because there would be no obvious way to return them to their own countries. He left it unclear whether the difficulty would be on the UK side or that of their own countries. There is no reason to suppose that the countries where such students come to the UK from would refuse to take them back, or that they would be unsafe. Home Office data reveals that, in the first six months of this year, of those on student visas claiming asylum, “a significant number” came from Nigeria, Bangladesh and Pakistan, each a member of the Commonwealth and with which the UK has strong ties, whether of trade, investment or research, due to cultural and historic links or, as with Nigeria, as noble Lords will remember, a mutual deportation or returns agreement. I know that Sudan and Afghanistan, the other two countries on the Home Office list, are more difficult. If the difficulty is on the UK side, then such claimants are in the position of having a visa that entitles them to be in the country, subject to certain conditions, and when that visa expires, they must leave, and if they do not do so of their own volition, they must be deported. If they give up their course and cease to be in full-time education, they cannot remain here by virtue of a student visa.