Well-qualified foreign students who plan to come to the UK for the right reasons will have nothing to fear from the changes

Some of my fellow international students are quite upset, it appears, over recent announcements that the student visa scheme will be reformed to make it harder for applicants to get permission to enter the UK. To them, this plan is further proof, besides the dearth of scholarships and work opportunities for non-EU citizens, that the government is xenophobic and treats them unfairly.

They are missing the point. I say it's about time something was done about a shambolic system that allows dishonest overstayers to make a mockery of the hard work we put in to earn our places at university.

Admittedly, the proposal did have me worried at first. It will allow fewer in to study every year, in line with plans to bring net migration down to the "tens of thousands". This means that we are likely to see a sharp decrease from the 362,000 visas that were given out in the first half of this year. A supply crunch seems inevitable.

Look beyond these figures, however, and a different picture emerges. Immigration minister Damian Green has given his assurances that good students applying to quality institutions are still welcome; no absolute cap on numbers is in the works either. Rather, the key aim is that of restricting the inflow of people enrolling in non-degree courses. These currently account for over half of all visas granted, and many cases – at least one in every 10 – can be traced to bogus colleges, which provide easy cover for those who are actually trying to find work.

The message seems clear enough: we're not who they're after. So really, there's no need to get all worked up, is there?

It's not that I don't understand my peers' frustrations about not getting a fair shake. Like many of them, I also pour tens of thousands of pounds into the British economy every year to study a legitimate course at a well-regarded school. So I, too, am sick and tired of being interrogated like a suspect on Sky1's UK Border Force every time I clear immigration at Heathrow, just because I have a Tier 4 permit in my passport. Trust me – it's a whole lot less entertaining when the questioning looks are being directed your way.

What aggrieved bona fide students should realise is that if we want this kind of thing to stop, then we ought to get behind the new regulations all the more. The change is to our benefit: it will ensure officials do not tar us with the same brush as those trying to sneak in to "study" at Dodgy Polytechnic, just so they can earn a diploma in how to sew buttons on blouses in a dingy sweatshop.

Of course, all this is provided that the new government does a better job of tightening the rules than the previous one, which made a hash of managing the visa regime. I should know, because I once had to contend with the Byzantine application process myself. The goalposts kept shifting all the time: last year saw the introduction of a points-based system, and this year's curveballs included scrapping the requirement for university visa letters in favour of electronically issued Confirmation of Acceptance of Study (CAS) numbers, possibly to thwart forgeries. Imagine trying to grapple with all this on top of the many other hassles associated with moving abroad.

It would all be very well if only the aim of this constant tweaking – to filter out fraudulent applications – had been achieved. Clearly, it hasn't – the number of visas issued actually surged by more than a third last year. The only discernible effect it's had is that it's made getting a visa hellishly difficult and inconvenient.

Hopefully, things will be different once the new rules kick in – though that remains to be seen. For now, though, I think the prospect of change should be welcomed. My advice to all foreign students out there would be to stop fretting so much. If you're well-qualified and deserving, and you plan to come to the UK for the right reasons, then you should – and will – have nothing to fear.

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