23rd May, 2023
By Kazeem Ugbodaga
The United Kingdom has stopped Nigerian students and others from bringing their families to their country during studies in a bid to curb rising migration issue.
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.
Sky News reports that international students would no longer be able to bring dependants with them unless they are on postgraduate courses that are currently designated as research programmes, beginning from January 2024.
It quoted that government as saying that the package would also remove the ability for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies had been completed “to prevent misuse of the visa system.”
According to Braverman, recent immigration figures had shown an “unexpected rise” in the number of dependants coming to the UK alongside international students.
She added that the increase was made after the government made its commitment to lower net migration.
The Home Secretary stated that while the government’s strategy around international education played an important part in supporting the economy, it should not be at the expense of its commitment to the public to lower overall migration.
Braverman said this package struck the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net migration and protecting the economic benefits that students could bring to the UK.
She argued that now was the time for the government to make these changes to ensure an impact on net migration as soon as possible.
The Home Secretary said government expected this package to have a tangible impact on net migration, adding that taken together with the easing of temporary factors, it expected net migration to fall to pre-pandemic levels in the medium term.