“There is no limit for Indian Students in UK”: Cameron

Asserting that UK and India should be "partners of choice", British Prime Minister David Cameron has said the two countries have made "extraordinary progress" on Trade, Education investment since 2010, and that the "positive momentum" should continue.

Cameron, who had a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, also utilised his short visit to India to allay the concerns of students looking to pursue education in the UK, saying there was no limit on the number of Indian students wanting to go there.

He, however, said "There is no limit for Indian Students in UK. UK needed to keep a tab on immigration."

Although the number of students going to Britain to study had swelled to 60,000 in 2009, that figure has come down and the country is now attracting the more genuine students.

Stressing on the need for stricter immigration controls, which was not been there in the last 10 years, Cameron said students should be aiming to work in graduate jobs and not any other jobs.

"I think people will understand that for a country like Britain, much smaller geographically than India, we have to control immigration. We had a policy on immigration. It wasn't well managed, it wasn't well controlled over a 10-year period ... We had an additional 2 million people coming into Britain, which is a big number," he said.

Advocating a proper immigration control regime, Cameron said, "Within such immigration control, we want to have the most attractive offers for students from around the world and I think the two new limits - the limit on numbers and the limit on staying on to work in a graduate job, make for a very good offer.

"University graduates should be aiming to work in graduate jobs. I think it is a fair approach," he added.

The British PM's visit to India follows his country's decision to scrap the controversial Pounds 3,000 visa bond scheme for "high risk" overseas visitors, the list for which included people from India.

PTI