The United Kingdom has put in place a law that bar Nigerian and other foreign post graduate students studying in the UK from bringing family as dependents except under specific circumstances.The announcement has been made two days before official statistics are expected to show legal migration has hit a record 700,000 this year.
Last year, 135,788 visas were granted to dependants of foreign students, nearly nine times the 2019 figure.
PM Rishi Sunak told ministers the move would help bring migration down.He told the cabinet that the change, to begin in January 2024, will make a "significant difference to the numbers," according to No 10.Last week, he said ministers were "considering a range of options" to bring migration down, but refused to say what an acceptable level was.
The Conservatives have previously promised to bring net migration below 100,000 a year, but ditched the target ahead of the 2019 election after repeatedly failing to meet it.
Under the announcement, partners and children of postgraduate students other than those studying on courses designated as research programmes will no longer be allowed to apply to live in the UK during the course.
There were 135,788 visas granted to dependants last year, a rise from 54,486 in 2021, and more than seven times the 19,139 granted in 2020.
Under the new rule, the UK will remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed to prevent misuse of the visa system.
Sky News also added that “there will also be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on “unscrupulous” education agents “who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education”.
This change takes effect January 2024 to allow students starting courses in the UK time to plan to adapt to the new rules.
This new law comes after indications had emerged that the UK plans to put stricter laws in place to bring down the climbing number of immigrants into the country via studies.
In a written ministerial statement on Tuesday, Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said recent immigration figures had shown an “unexpected rise” in the number of dependants coming to the UK alongside international students.
Official statistics, which are due to be published this week, are expected to show that net migration has increased from 504,000 in the 12 months to June 2022 to more than 700,000 in the year to December, Sky News said.
According to data, foreign students brought 135,788 family members to Britain last year – nine times more than in 2019 while in 2022, 59,053 Nigerian students brought over 60,923 relatives.
