Crackdown on UK foreign students not successful in war on terror

In March 2009, the government announced plans to stop more than 400 colleges and universities from accept foreign students in a bid to crackdown on handing out students visas to non-students. This was also supposed to bring to the attention of the government anyone trying to enter the country on a bogus student visa who may be looking to enter the country to commit acts of terrorism.

However, the recent events of the attempted bombing of a Christmas Day flight from Amsterdam to Detroit by a young man from Nigeria who had his student visa rejected proves that the plans are not working. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was put on a watch list after the UK government rejected his bogus visa bid but he was able to board a plane without any extra surveillance or security measures in place. This begs the question; why put him on a watch list if he is not then going to be watched?

Back in 2006, Prime Minister Tony Blair aimed to get up to 10,000 foreign students into the UK but his plans led to many using the system to get into the country and not study. The current system was put in place to not only deter fake students entering the country illegally but also to flag up potential terrorists yet the happenings on the 25th of December have raised further concerns that more needs to be done. The US keeps its own watch list of terror suspects and this is why Abdulmutallab was able to board the plane destined for Detroit with no extra surveillance in place and talks will soon be underway about condensing watch list around the world.