The internationalization of tertiary education has given rise to student mobility of industrial proportions and affects and is affected by, national economies. Currently British universities are host to the second highest number of international students in the world; the proportionality of international students in the student body in UK higher education (HE) is also the second highest globally.Over the decades the British government has declined to link policy and practice on international student issues, rather, has taken a stance which presented a view of the country’s role in overseas student affairs that reflected imperialist, postcolonial, international, and global perspectives, invariably mirroring the political complexion of the day. The article highlights a number of ways in which policies designed to control international student numbers has had the effect of creating conditions in which the domestic students have in turn been privileged and disadvantaged. Using a historical perspective to interrogate former policy initiatives, it concludes by reflecting on what the impact of present policies are likely to be for future developments of the sector.