In UK the international students those who stay for over 6 months had to mandatorily register their details such as their address, university/college of their study etc at the local police office. They even had to pay a fee for this registration, which the UK home office levied as an administrative fee on international students.
But on August 4, 2022, this rule has been withdrawn to smoothen the experience for international students in the UK. It was a cause of immense discomfort and stress for the international student community and is being considered the second biggest move after the re-introduction of a post-study work visa a few years ago aimed at regaining the spot that the UK enjoyed as one of the most favoured destinations for international higher education.
This scheme was not only a burden on the students but also on the police administration as there had been a huge backlog in the appointments with the police department for registration. Withdrawal of the scheme was being sought by all stakeholders for quite some time now as it was considered a futile exercise that was being conducted to gather the information that was already captured during the visa processing for all international students.
The move has received applaud and praise from education bodies, consultants, organizations and students alike and all are univocal in acknowledging that the timing has been absolutely apt keeping in mind the current inflow of international students for the Fall ’22 intake.
