The UK government has announced that international students will no longer be able to bring their families, except in exceptional circumstances
Posted on – Tue, 5/23/23 at 11:59pm
The UK government has announced that international students will no longer be able to bring their families, except in exceptional circumstances
London: International students will no longer be able to bring their families with them except in exceptional circumstances, the British government announced on Tuesday, in a move that could hit Indians.
According to the Home Office, the new changes to the student visa pathway will not apply to international students pursuing postgraduate research pathways such as PhDs and will come into effect from January next year.
The restrictions would also prevent people from using student visas as a backdoor route to work in the UK, reducing net migration while protecting the economic benefits students bring to the UK.
“We have seen an unprecedented increase in the number of dependents of students entering the country on visas. Now is the time for us to tighten this route to ensure we can reduce immigration levels and deliver on the government’s commitment to the British people to reduce net migration,” Home Affairs said. Chancellor Suella Braverman said.
“It’s fair and allows us to better protect our public services while supporting the economy by keeping the students who contribute the most here,” she added.
The move comes after ONS figures due later this week are expected to show net migration of more than half a million between June 2021 and June 2022.
Almost half a million student visas were issued last year, while the number of dependents of overseas students has increased by 750 per cent since 2019 to 136,000.
The number of visas granted to dependents of international students increased eightfold in 2019, from 16,000 to 136,000, according to Home Office estimates.
In addition, to prevent abuse of the visa system, overseas students will be prohibited from switching from the student visa route to the work visa route until they complete their studies.
The government will also crack down on unscrupulous international student agents who may support inappropriate applications.
International students, including Indians, contribute nearly 10 times as much to the UK economy as they take out of it, according to a report by the UK’s higher education body.
According to 2020-21 figures, Indians are the second largest group of international students studying at UK universities – with 87,045 first-year enrolments, behind China’s 99,965 and Nigeria’s 32,945.
“Attracting top students from around the world is not only good for our universities – it’s vital for our economy and forging important global relationships,” Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said. However, she added that there had been a significant increase in the number of family members being brought to the UK by students.
The Home Office added that changes to student visa pathways would not affect the success of the government’s international education strategy, including the achievement of the target of 600,000 international higher education students studying in the UK each year by 2030.
