Under new government plans to reduce immigration, it was announced today that the majority of international students will be prohibited from bringing family members to the UK unless they are enrolled in a PhD programme.
Under current regulations, only postgraduate students enrolled in nine-month or longer full-time programmes are permitted to transport family members to the United Kingdom.
These students may bring their partner and any children under the age of 18, but they must demonstrate they can support each dependent with at least £680 per month.
However, Braverman announced on May 23 that family members of international pupils will no longer be permitted to reside in the United Kingdom.
Prior to the announcement of new immigration data on Thursday, there had been a focus on international students who bring dependents to the UK.
Ministers are preparing for the official numbers to reveal a massive increase in net migration last year, possibly exceeding 700,000.
A set of new limits on international students were presented by Home Secretary Suella Braverman this afternoon with the goal of bringing net migration down 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, the Home Office issued a record 485,755 sponsored study visas, according to data that has already been made public.
During the past year, 135,788 visas were issued to dependents, such as spouses and children, of international students.
This was an increase of more than eightfold from the 16,047 dependent visas granted in 2019.
In 2022, Nigeria had the maximum number (60,923) of dependents of sponsored study visa holders, while India had the second highest number (38,990).
Last year, nearly 120,000 visas for dependents were issued to the top five nationalities of Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
In a written ministerial statement announcing new restrictions on international students, Mrs. Braverman acknowledged today that there has been a “unexpected rise” in the number of dependents accompanying international students to the United Kingdom in 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 proposals we are announcing today will ensure that we can continue to meet our International Education Strategy commitments, while making a tangible contribution to reducing net migration to sustainable levels.”
Former minister Chris Skidmore posted on Twitter: “The easiest and fastest way to reduce net migration is to remove international students from these artificial statistics.“
“They aren’t migrants, the vast majority leave after their studies, they subsidise home student fees and research, and spend over £40bn in local economies.“
The modifications are scheduled to go into effect in January 2024, with the Home Office implementing delivery strategies in the coming months.
