Prime minister Theresa May has increasingly come under attack for her treatment of foreign students. While the opposition as well as the public cries for foreign students to be counted in a separate category, Miss May insists on them counting as immigrants. The problem is, if they keep the status of immigrants, the UK reaches its yearly limit faster than we would without them. This argument is supported b the fact that most students do not stay in the UK as permanent residents. Hence, it would only be logical to not consider them immigrants in the first place. In 2016, foreign students have contributed 3.7 billion pounds to the UK’s economy.
source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-theresa-may-immigration-student-numbers-uk-universities-damage-impact-a7700056.html