Finding work without a skill in the the UK may now be impossible for Nigerians

• The Home Secretary of the UK wants to cut down the time foreign students without a skilled job can stay in the country. 
• She plans to cut down this duration from 2 years to 6 months.
• However, the UK’s Department of Education is pushing back on the idea. 

The Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Suella Braverman, has become the center of a controversial subject after her push to cut down the time foreign students can spend in the UK after their studies.

Currently, foreign students in the UK can stay for a duration of 2 years after graduation, but Braverman is looking to cut it down to six months, after which post graduates must have a skilled job to be eligible for a visa extension, otherwise they risk deportation.

However, the UK’s Department of Education is pushing back on the Home Secretary’s directive owing to fear that the UK might develop a hostile image in the eyes of immigrant students who pay more for tuition than UK natives.

As of 2022, home students fees capped at £9,250, while international ones paid around £24,000.

According to the Daily Mail, a UK news agency, “Ms Braverman has committed to cut immigration and ‘substantially reduce’ the number of unskilled foreign workers coming to Britain, from 239,000 to the ‘tens of thousands’.”

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency shows that there are approximately 680,000 foreign students studying in the UK, with non-EU outnumbering EU students 5 to 1.

This would mean that the UK has already met a target of attracting 600,000 a year by 2030, set in 2019.

The Home Secretary’s decision could spell disaster for Nigerian students who are currently the third largest international student group in the UK, behind only India and China.

In August 2022, it was reported by the Daily Mail that the number of Nigerian students coming to Britain rose by 686% in three years to a record high of 65,929.

Given the current unemployment issues in Nigeria, and Nigerian’s propensity to go to the UK and settle for either unskilled or skilled work, this new development could potentially spell disaster for numerous Nigerians looking to get a job as a means of visa extension.

However, a key part of the Home Secretary’s directive is to deport ex-students without skilled labor, and given the fact that the point of studying is to acquire a skill, this may not affect as many Nigerians as presumed.

The only counter argument to this is the fact that Nigerians are inclined to involve themselves in unskilled work, and as such, finishing tuition with the idea of settling for unskilled labor, if nothing else is available, is no longer an option.