Home Office to stop overseas students bringing
family to UK in bid to curb migration
The move comes as official statistics are expected to
confirm that net migration rose to more than 700,000 in the year to December
2022.
Alexandra
Rogers
Political
reporter @Journoamrogers
Tuesday 23
May 2023 22:40, UK
International
students who come to the UK will no longer be able to bring family with them
except under specific circumstances in a government bid to bring immigration down.
International
students will no longer be able to bring dependants with them unless they are
on postgraduate courses that are currently designated as research programmes.
The package
will also remove the ability 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", the government said.
As well as
removing this right, 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".
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The changes
will come into effect for students starting their courses from January 2024 in
order to allow future international students time to plan ahead.
In the year
ending December 2022, 486,000 student visas were issued to applicants - up from
269,000 in 2019.
Last year,
the number of student visas issued to dependants stood at 136,000 - an
eightfold increase from 2019, when 16,000 were provided.
In a
written ministerial statement, 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.
Ms
Braverman said the increase was made after the government made its commitment
to lower net migration.
In 2019,
when net migration stood at 226,000, the Conservative manifesto committed to
making sure "overall numbers come down".
Ms
Braverman said while the government's strategy around international education
"plays an important part in supporting the economy", it should
"not be at the expense of our commitment to the public to lower overall
migration".
"This
package strikes the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net
migration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the
UK," she said.
"Now
is the time for us to make these changes to ensure an impact on net migration
as soon as possible. We expect this package to have a tangible impact on net
migration. Taken together with the easing of temporary factors, we expect net
migration to fall to pre-pandemic levels in the medium term."
Education
Secretary Gillian Keegan said attracting top students "isn't just good for
our universities - it's essential for our economy and building vital global
relationships".
"But
the number of family members being brought to the UK by students has risen
significantly," she added.
"It is
right we are taking action to reduce this number while maintaining a commitment
to our international education strategy, which continues to enrich the UK's
education sector and make a significant contribution to the wider
economy."
The
announcement comes as the government comes under mounting pressure over
migration figures - an issue that has reportedly caused splits in the cabinet.
Official
statistics due to be published later 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.
Ms
Braverman recently made a speech at the National Conservatism Conference in
which she said the UK needed to "get overall immigration numbers
down", adding: "We mustn't forget how to do things for
ourselves."
But Ms
Braverman is reported to have faced pushback in recent weeks from some cabinet
colleagues, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Ms Keegan, who are said to
have been appealing for more visas for students and workers in certain sectors
to boost economic growth and continue to plug the gaps left in the labour
market.
The home secretary
is also coming under increasing pressure personally over claims she asked civil
servants to arrange a private awareness course after she was caught speeding
last year - a move critics claim could amount to a breach of the ministerial
code.
Raising an
urgent question in the House of Commons, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner
said there were "serious questions to answer" regarding Ms Braverman,
adding: "How many strikes before she's out?"
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