UK launches interview scheme to crack down on bogus students

Consular staff will interview more than 100,000 prospective students hoping to study in Britain as the UK government moves to stop bogus students from entering the country, says the interior minister.

In a keynote speech on immigration, Home Secretary Theresa May said the interviews would be extended "across all routes to Britain". This could mean that as many as 250,000 people hoping to come to Britain could face an interview.

At the same time, she said that Britain had eased entry requirements for Chinese tourists.

The announcements were made at the centre-right Policy Exchange think tank.

May said a pilot study by the Border Agency, in which 2,300 prospective students were interviewed, found abuse was rife.

"Starting with the highest-risk countries, and focusing on the route to Britain that is widely abused, student visas, we will increase the number of interviews to considerably more than 100,000, starting next financial year," she said. "From there, we will extend the interviewing programme further across all routes to Britain, wherever the evidence takes us. I believe this new approach will help us to root out the abuse of British visas, and improve the integrity of our immigration system."