From September 2004 the maximum time someone can stay in the UK to do successive short courses under one year

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From September 2004 the maximum time someone can stay in the UK to do successive short courses (under one year) below degree level has been reduced from four years to two years On 1 July the fee for a student visa rose from £36 to £85. Since 1 April the fee for postal applications for "leave to remain" has been £250 for students. Work permits are in general more difficult to obtain than student visas. Employers have to apply for them on behalf of potential employees.. Vital evidence in the hunt for the four failed suicide bombers was revealed yesterday after police named two of the terrorists. Details of an unusual plastic container used to hold the home-made bombs in last Thursday's attacks on three Tube trains and a bus in London were released.

Only 100 stores in Britain sell the Indian-made container, say police. The hunt for the bombers became even more urgent with the disclosure that there is growing evidence of a fifth terrorist who dumped his bomb and fled.One of the two men named as a potential suicide bomber was Muktar Said Ibrahim, 27, also known as Muktar Mohammed Said, who is accused of trying to blow up a No 26 bus in Hackney Road, east London, on Thursday.Police raided a flat in north London yesterday where Ibrahim is thought to have lived. One neighbour said she had seen the suspect and another man bring large quantities of chemicals into the flat.Police named the bomber who tried to detonate his device on the Tube at Warren Street on 21 July as 24-year-old Yasin Hassan Omar. The two men are thought to have been in Britain for several years, although they are believed to be of a Somalian background and their terror cell has links with east Africa. The Home Office refused to disclose whether they were living in Britain illegally.The disclosure of a link to east Africa could have a big impact on the investigation into the attacks because it is likely to widen the focus of inquiries beyond Asian communities.Deputy Assistant Commissioner Peter Clarke, the head of the Metropolitan Police's anti-terrorist branch, said the four suspects were all attempting to be suicide bombers. Video images from the Tube and the bus showed each man trying to detonate his rucksack or bag bomb.

A small puff of smoke was seen, but none of the devices went off.Police fear suicide bombers are more likely to strike again and, if cornered, would be prepared to kill rather than give themselves up.Police have published the first details of components used to make the bombs. The explosives were placed inside plastic food storage containers that were then put in dark coloured rucksacks and sports bags.The Delta 6250 containers are six-and-a-quarter litres in size and have white lids.Scotland Yard appealed for any shopkeeper who had sold five or more of the containers to any customer to contact police.Police have found a fifth bomb, which contained the same explosive as the other four devices, which were similar to the explosive used in the 7 July suicide attacks that claimed 56 lives. The device was found abandoned in bushes at Little Wormwood Scrubs in west London on Saturday.The investigation by the police and MI5 is focusing on the addresses and associates of the four bombers captured on video.Detectives were searching a flat at Ladderswood Way, New Southgate, north London, yesterday, where the suspect bus bomber, Ibrahim, is thought to have been.Sam Jones, 33, a resident of the 12-storey housing block said she had seen Ibrahim carrying a large quantity of an unidentified chemical into the building with another man three or four weeks ago.Ms Jones, who lives on the third floor, said: "They were carrying a huge number of small cardboard boxes into the lift You could see boxes inside. There were about 50 in all."I asked them what was inside and they said it was chemicals for stripping wallpaper."Residents said Ibrahim had been a regular visitor to the block in the past two years, staying for weeks at a time. They said he shared the flat with three Somalians, who played football in a nearby park once a week.The one-bedroom flat at 58 Curtis House was occupied by a man in his 30s of Somali background who called himself George He is also known as Ismail.