Business leaders criticise UK visa crackdown on overseas students

LONDON: The UK government´s toughening of immigration policy for overseas university students risks weakening the higher education sector and could hit recruitment and investment, business leaders warned on Thursday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his ruling Conservatives have unveiled a raft of measures to crack down on record levels of migration -- a key battleground in the upcoming general election.

They include preventing overseas students from bringing family members and a ban on transferring from a student to a work visa after their courses end.

UK universities, whose budgets depend on the higher tuition fees paid by overseas students, have been especially critical of the measures, warning of a dip in applications.

But multi-nationals which have invested in the UK also said government migration policy risked weakening cutting-edge research and innovation, and the pool of talent they rely on for recruitment.