An eight-hour debate in the House of Lords this week revealed serious concerns over an immigration bill that would introduce a number of measures affecting international students, including an annual NHS levy for migrants and compulsory checks by landlords of tenants' legal status.

The British government has refused to alter its immigration policies to protect the provision of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects at UK universities – despite warnings from the House of Lords that its policies threaten the viability of many STEM programmes. However, it did say it was monitoring the impact of its visa policies.