In an effort to curb migration, the British government has announced a new policy that will prevent Nigerians and other foreign nationals on study visas from bringing their family members to the United Kingdom starting in January 2024.
The crackdown on foreign students bringing dependants to Britain comes ahead of the release of fresh migration figures on Thursday.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman had previously proposed several policies targeting immigrant students.
Under these plans, foreign students will be prohibited from bringing dependants to the UK unless they are enrolled in postgraduate research programs.
Additionally, foreign students will no longer be able to switch from the student route to work routes in the UK before completing their studies.
The government also intends to clamp down on unscrupulous education agents who may facilitate inappropriate applications for immigration purposes rather than genuine education opportunities.
Anticipating the release of official migration figures, forecasts have indicated that net migration could exceed 700,000 in the 12 months leading up to December of the previous year.
This would surpass the previous record of 500,000 in the year ending June 2022, with some analyses even suggesting the figure could approach one million.
Recent data from the Home Office shows that 485,758 sponsored study visas were granted last year, marking a new high.
Over the same period, 135,788 visas were issued to dependants, including partners and children of foreign students.
This represents a significant increase compared to the 16,047 visas granted to dependants in 2019.
Among the dependants of sponsored study visa holders in 2022, Nigeria had the highest number with 60,923, followed by India with 38,990 dependants.
Surprisingly, an analysis of UK visas issued to Nigerians in 2022 revealed that more visas were granted to Nigerian dependants than to Nigerian students themselves.
According to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency of the UK, a total of 44,195 study visas were issued to Nigerians for the 2021/2022 academic session.
