PM mulls crackdown on foreign students bringing family to UK

Plan to bar foreign students from bringing family to UK ‘could slash 150,000 off arrivals’ as Rishi Sunak braces for huge surge in net migration figures this week

  • There were 135,788 visas granted to dependants of foreign students last year

Government plans to stop most foreign students from bringing family members to Britain could cut immigration by up to 150,000, it has emerged.

A crackdown on foreign students bringing dependents to the UK is expected to be unveiled ahead of fresh migration figures being released on Thursday.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is braced for the official statistics to show a huge surge in net migration, which is the number of arrivals in the UK minus the number of departures.

Some forecasts have suggested net migration could top 700,000 in the 12 months to December last year, which would easily exceed the record of 500,000 in the year to June 2022.

One analysis suggested the figure could even reach near to one million.

Mr Sunak has prommised action to bring down net migration and Cabinet ministers have been mulling proposals to slash the number of arrivals to the UK. 

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is braced for official statistics, due to be released this week, to show a huge surge in net migration

A crackdown on foreign students bringing dependents to the UK is expected to be unveiled ahead of fresh migration figures being released on Thursday

Some forecasts have suggested net migration could top 700,000 in the 12 months to December last year, which would easily exceed the record of 500,000 in the year to June 2022. One analysis suggested the figure could even reach near to one million

According to The Times, Home Secretary Suella Braverman will this week announce that almost all foreign students will be barred from brining dependants to the UK.

Only those on doctoral courses and a small number of others, such as those on research-led master’s courses, will be exempt from the crackdown, the newspaper reported.

Internal government modelling is said to have predicted the move will cut the number of migrants coming to the UK by between 120,000 and 150,000 based on 2023 figures.

Home Office figures show 485,758 sponsored study visas were granted last year, which was a new high.

There were 135,788 visas granted to dependants – such as partners or children – of foreign students over the 12 months.

This was an increase from 16,047 visas granted to dependants of foreign students in 2019.

Nigeria had the highest number of dependants (60,923) of sponsored study visa holders in 2022, while India had the second highest number of dependants (38,990).

There were almost 120,000 dependant visas granted to the top five nationalities of Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka last year.

The Home Office has suggested the growth in study related visas granted to dependants could be because a greater number of older students are coming to Britain.

There were 135,788 visas granted to dependants – such as partners or children – of foreign students last year

Speaking at the G7 summit in Japan over the weekend, the PM revealed he was ‘considering a range of options’ to bring down net migration.

‘Let me be unequivocal that future numbers of legal migration are too high and I’m committed and the Government is committed to bringing those numbers down,’ Mr Sunak said.

But the PM is facing renewed calls to remove foreign students from migration statistics altogether, with some Tory MPs claiming they give an ‘artificial’ view of the figures.

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 head of a committee that advises ministers on migration issues has said his panel supports curbing the amount of time overseas university students can stay in Britain.

Professor Brian Bell, chairman of the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), told The Sunday Telegraph that his independent body thought it ‘unnecessary’ for foreign students to be permitted to work in Britain for two years after completing their masters degree.

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