486,000 student visas were given last year, making up the greatest chunk of immigration to the UK.
LONDON:In an effort to reduce annual net migration, which hit a record high last year, Britain announced on Tuesday that it will take away the ability of some overseas students to bring family members into the country.
As part of his promises before an expected election next year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated last week that he was studying a variety of methods to lower the high volumes of arrivals. He has promised to reduce legal migration.
The new policies, which only apply to post-graduate students enrolled in research programmes, according to the interior ministry, will help “substantially” reduce immigration and prevent people from exploiting student visas as a backdoor.
The number of dependent students being admitted to the country on visas has increased at an unprecedented rate, according to a statement from interior minister Suella Braverman.
“This is the right thing to do to enable us to better protect our public services while supporting the economy by allowing the students who contribute the most to continue coming here,” the speaker said.
The government reported that the number of dependents has increased eightfold since 2019 to 136,000 people last year, despite the fact that current regulations permit postgraduate students taking courses lasting Bringing partners and children to Britain should take nine months or more.
The reforms, which take effect in January, are announced ahead of Thursday’s presentation of the yearly net migration projections for 2022. Net migration hit a record-high 504,000 for the year ending in June 2022.
Braverman continued without setting a concrete goal, saying that numbers should return to pre-pandemic levels in the medium term.
High levels of legal immigration have long dominated British politics and were a major factor in the 2016 Brexit vote because of the additional strain they place on the country’s already-struggling public services.
According to the interior ministry, Britain would also make it impossible for foreign students to go from the student path to the job route before finishing their education.
486,000 student visas were given last year, making up the greatest share of immigration to the UK, it continued.
