Victory for English language schools on visa restrictions

ENGLISH language colleges have welcomed a High Court ruling that the government's attempts to restrict visas for their courses is illegal.

Yesterday's ruling came after attempts by Alan Johnson, the former Home Secretary, to introduce restrictions preventing students with only beginner's English from entering Britain for English language courses.

English language schools throughout the UK warned that if the legislation had been successful it would have resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs and millions of pounds a year of foreign earnings.

The restrictions formed part of a drive against illegal immigration and bogus applications.

Mr Justice Foskett, sitting in London, declared the fresh restrictions had been achieved through altering guidelines when there should have been a formal change to the rules, with the matter referred back to Parliament.

English language schools generate more than 5 million annually for the Scottish economy, not counting accommodation costs and other spending by thousands of overseas students.

Edinburgh has nearly 20 English language schools offering a range of courses. They charge 350 to 450 for week's pre-university English classes.