Home Office advisers yesterday floated the idea of graduates needing a “certain grade” in order to stay in the country.

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And Home Secretary James Cleverly has tasked the Migration Advisory Committee to review the route used by nearly 100,000 students to find work after their studies.

Yesterday its chairman Professor Brian Bell said: “There’s no formal requirement to graduate, you just have to finish your studies, and there’s no requirement to have got a particular grade in your university course.

“That’s the sort of question we’d want to review in the graduate route – whether that’s a sensible route, or whether you should have a rule to achieve a certain grade or a certain achievement in your course.”

It followed confusion over whether the new £38,700 salary rule for migrants would apply to those already here.

Legal migration minister Tom Pursglove said the increased family visa threshold would not be applied retrospectively.

Prof Bell said it would only have a minimal impact on net migration.

But he said the Government’s package last week was likely to slash annual arrivals by 300,000.