by Rachel Ogbu

In India, owning a UK student visa makes you more desirable for marriage, British home office’s migration policy head Glyn Williams has said.

Williams said Indian women with the visas were looked upon as “marriage dowries” by men desiring to marry them.

“In India, UK student visas became known as the ‘marriage dowry’ because female Indian students were able to bring over their partners to work in the UK,” the UK’s Times Higher Education supplement quoted Williams as saying. This was allegedly one of several other abuses for entering Britain for studies.

Williams further explained that the prospect of working in Britain very attractive to Indian students than it was to the Chinese.

According to reports, Williams addressed the issue at a recent conference on improving intertnational student experience held in London, Williams said Indians widely use student visas to obtain the right to work in the UK. He argued that such visas had become a “vehicle for abuse” before the present government tightened the rules.

Following the tightening of visa rules, the inflow of Indian students in the 2011-12 dropped by 24% over the previous year, Higher Education Statistics Agency figures revealed earlier this month. But the overall overseas student numbers grew primarily.