Overseas Students: Entry Clearances

Chris Grayling
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people have been (a) prosecuted for and (b) convicted of immigration offences related to the student visa system in the last 12 months.

Alan Johnson
The system used by the UK Border Agency to record data relating to prosecutions for immigration offences does not categorise individuals by the nature of their stay in the UK.

The UK Border Agency would normally seek to remove an individual under such circumstances, rather than to prosecute them, as the former presents a more cost effective alternative.