UK to stop some overseas students bringing family to slash net migration
- UK government aims to stop people from using student visas as a back door route to find work in Britain
- New measures are intended to bring down annual net migration which reached over 500,000 last year
The UK government on Tuesday announced new visa limits affecting international students, with the ruling Conservatives locked in a war of words over soaring immigration.
Under the new measures only students on postgraduate courses designated as research programmes – typically lasting longer than two years – will be able to bring dependants to the UK while they study.
Since Brexit, Britain has ended free movement of people from the European Union, but net migration is set to hit record highs this year.
Much of that has been driven by bespoke visa schemes for people fleeing Ukraine, Hong Kong and Afghanistan. But student numbers have also surged, notably from India and Nigeria.
That has stoked political controversy, and cabinet infighting over the issue spilled into the open last week as right-wing Home Secretary Suella Braverman urged her own government to get tougher.
Ranged against her are the finance and education ministers, who value the skills brought in by foreign workers and the high overseas fees paid by students to UK universities.