UK excludes India from relaxed student Visa rule

New Delhi : The United Kingdom's efforts to make visa process easy for International students will not reach to India - a development that confirms strains in the bilateral relations between the two nations post Narendra Modi's visit to London earlier this year.

Announcing a wider overhaul of the U.K. immigration regime, the British government said it would be expanding the list of countries from which students would be able to provide reduced documentation when applying for Tier 4 student visas to include China and other countries, including Bahrain, Indonesia, and the Maldives. However, India was not on the list.

“This change demonstrates the continued focus on improving the U.K.’s offer to international students,” said Immigration Minister Caroline Nokes in a statement to the House of Commons on Friday.

Though UK mentioned that India stands third in number of students getting Visa to study there.

“We welcome Indian students who want to come to the U.K. to study at our world-leading educational institutions. We issue more visas to students from India than any other country except China and the U.S.,” said a spokesperson for the Home Office.

An Indian government source suggested that the British perspective on Indian students was simply based on the fact that Indian students represented one of the largest groups. “We believe they have got this wrong,” the source said.