There is ¡°no evidence¡± of a major problem with overseas students who study in the UK overstaying their visas, according to the country¡¯s official statistics body.

A key report that cast severe doubts over previous claims that tens of thousands of international students were overstaying says that students from outside the European Union ¡°are to a very large extent compliant with their visas in terms of departing or staying legally via extensions of leave¡±.

The , from the Office for National Statistics, uses a new analysis of border checks on departing students to find that, of those whose long-term study visa expired in 2016-17, 95 per cent either left the UK or remained legally by gaining a visa extension for further study or work.

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Separate from the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Office on exit checks, including for those on short-term study visas, show that of students whose visa expired in 2016-17, 97.4 per cent were recorded as ¡°having left in-time¡± leaving 4,617 who may have overstayed or where there was no data for another reason. For those on long-term (Tier 4) study visas, 97 per cent, left in-time leaving 3,340 people unaccounted for.

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Publication of the new data was prompted by a highly critical report published in July by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) that warned estimates of long-term student immigration to the UK needed a health warning due to the high potential for errors.

This was because they were being based on responses to the International Passenger Survey (IPS), which questions a sample of people entering and leaving the UK.

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The IPS estimates have consistently suggested that far fewer overseas students - numbering the tens of thousands - were leaving the UK than arriving, leading to government ministers, including Prime Minister Theresa May in her previous role as home secretary, to attack the education sector as a source of illegal immigration.

In a foreword to today¡¯s ONS report, Iain Bell, deputy national statistician for population and public policy, says that the work of statisticians across government had found there was ¡°no evidence of a major issue of non-EU students overstaying their entitlement to stay¡±.

He said that the review of the IPS data and actual exit checks cast serious doubt over relying on IPS responses to estimate long-term migration for study because students often changed their minds on their next steps.

Mr Bell said the new statistical work had shown that ¡°many people do not simply immigrate for study and leave afterwards; their lives are more complex ¨C some people arrive on a work visa and legitimately change to a study visa and vice versa¡±.

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He added: ¡°Our analysis confirms that a lower number of departing students return to the UK within 12 months compared to the number who reported such an intention when departing the UK.¡±

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What non-EU students whose study visa expired between 2015 and 2016 did next

Mr Bell said statisticians across government would now work towards creating ¡°a robust approach to measuring net migration¡± by category but said ¡°in the meantime we should no longer publish breakdowns of net migration by reason as these do not reflect the complexities of people¡¯s lives¡±.

Alistair Jarvis, chief executive of Universities UK, said the ONS and ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Office reports?showed ¡°that there is very high visa compliance by international students. The number of students overstaying their visas is a tiny fraction of previous (incorrect) claims.¡±

He added UUK was ¡°ready to assist¡± the ONS and the ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Office in developing better measures of student migration but stressed that ¡°any future decisions on international student visa policy must not be based on the International Passenger Survey data¡±.

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Today¡¯s reports were published alongside the latest estimates on long-term immigration for study, that showed there was ¡°a statistically significant decrease of 27,000¡± in numbers in the year to March 2017 compared with the previous 12 months. Separate ³ÉÈËVRÊÓƵ Office statistics showed sponsored visa applications to study at UK universities went up 5 per cent over the 12 months to the end of June.

The government has also announced that it is commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a ¡°detailed assessment of the social and economic impact of international students¡± in the UK.

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simon.baker@timeshighereducation.com