Foreign students studying for master’s degrees have been banned from bringing their family members to the United Kingdom (UK).
The announcement has been made two days before official statistics are expected to show legal migration has hit a record 700,000 in 2023.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman on Tuesday unveiled a package of new restrictions on foreign students aimed at helping to reduce net migration to ‘sustainable levels’.
Under her plans:
*Foreign students will be banned from bringing dependants to Britain with them unless they are on postgraduate research programmes
*Foreign students will no longer be able to switch out of the student route into work routes for staying in the UK before their studies have been completed
*Efforts will be made to clamp down on ‘unscrupulous education agents who may be supporting inappropriate applications to sell immigration not education’.
Last year, 135,788 visas were granted to dependants of foreign students – almost nine times the figure for 2019.
Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who recently said legal migration was too high, stated that ministers were “considering a range of options” to bring migration down, but refused to put a precise figure on future acceptable levels.
According to a report by BBC on Tuesday, May 23, 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.
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Under the latest announcement, partners and children of graduate 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.
Last year, the 135,788 visas granted to dependants made up more than a fifth of all sponsored study related visas granted, compared to 6 per cent in 2019.
The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, said the rise in dependants being granted visas was “unprecedented”, adding that it was “time for us to tighten up this route to ensure we can cut migration numbers”.
In a statement to Parliament, she added that the move “strikes the right balance” between bringing down migration and “protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK”.
The Prime Minister told cabinet ministers the change, which will come into effect in January 2024, would make a “significant difference” to net migration numbers.
Students coming to the UK with a visa need to provide documents proving their relationship to dependants, who have to pay £490 for a visa.
Dependants are also required to pay the immigration health surcharge – an annual contribution between £470 and £624 towards NHS services.
There was more than eight-fold increase from the 16,047 visas granted to dependants in 2019.
Nigeria had the highest number of dependants (60,923) of sponsored study visa holders in 2022, while India had the second highest number of dependants (38,990).
There were almost 120,000 dependant visas granted to the top five nationalities of Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka last year.
In a written ministerial statement – in which she unveiled the new restrictions on foreign students – Mrs Braverman today acknowledged there had been an ‘unexpected rise’ in the number of dependants coming to the UK alongside international students over recent years.
She added: “This does not detract from the considerable success that the Government and the higher education sector have had in achieving the goals from our International Education Strategy, meeting our target to host 600,000 international students studying in the UK per year by 2030, for two years running, and earlier than planned – a success story in terms of economic value and exports.
“The International Education Strategy plays an important part in supporting the economy through the economic contribution students can bring to the UK, but this should not be at the expense of our commitment to the public to lower overall migration and ensure that migration to the UK is highly skilled and therefore provides the most benefit.”
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Rishi Sunak believed the action on dependants of foreign students would make a ‘significant difference’ in reducing net migration.
He also defended a decision to keep the rule allowing graduates to work for two years in the UK after completing their postgraduate courses.
“It is right that we recognise that it is of benefit to the UK that our student sector is extremely competitive,” the spokesman said.
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