UK to ban foreign students from bringing family over: How Indians will be affected

For foreign students in the United Kingdom, there’s some bad news. Those feeling homesick and who wish to bring their family over won’t be able to do so anymore as the British authorities announced a new immigration crackdown. The UK government on Tuesday announced a new immigration crackdown targeted at overseas students, including Indians, and their visa right to bring dependant family members to the country while enrolled at a British institution. The new changes to the student visa route will apply to overseas master’s students at British universities. However, the norms will not cover international students on post-graduate research routes such as PhDs, whose training often lasts between three to five years. According to the Home Office, the regulations will go into effect in January of next year. Let’s take a closer look. Crackdown on bringing dependants Home Secretary Suella Braverman in a written statement to the House of Commons said that only international students on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes will be allowed to bring in their family members, including children and elderly parents, as their dependants. As per the current graduate visa rules, master’s students can bring their partners and children to the country with them. They can stay for 24 months after the students’ courses finish.

“This package includes: removing the right for international students to bring dependants unless they are on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes,” Braverman’s statement notes. Removing the ability for international students to switch out of the student route into work routes before their studies have been completed and reviewing the maintenance requirements for students and dependants are listed among the other new measures. “We have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of student dependants being brought into the country with visas. It is time for us to tighten up this route to ensure we can cut migration numbers and meet the government’s pledge to the British people to cut net migration,” Home Secretary Suella Braverman said. “This is the fair thing to do to allow us to better protect our public services, while supporting the economy by allowing the students who contribute the most to keep coming here,” she added. The minister also pledged steps to clamp down on unscrupulous education agents who may be supporting inappropriate applications to sell immigration not education. [caption id=“attachment_12639092” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] The move comes as the Rishi Sunak government battles record-high migration to the UK despite the Conservatives’ election promise to bring the overall numbers down. AFP[/caption] Improved and more targeted enforcement activity is also listed within the new package. “The terms of the graduate route remain unchanged… We are committed to attracting the brightest and the best to the UK. Therefore, our intention is to work with universities over the course of the next year to design an alternative approach that ensures that the best and the brightest students can bring dependants to our world-leading universities while continuing to reduce net migration,” she said. The move comes as the Rishi Sunak government battles record-high migration to the UK despite the Conservatives’ election promise to bring the overall numbers down. The new curbs are expected to be enforced as soon as possible, after consultation with the educational sector and key stakeholders. UK sees sharp rise in dependants The Indian-origin minister said the new package of measures was necessary after it emerged that around 136,000 visas were granted to dependants of sponsored students in the year ending December 2022 a more than eight-fold increase from 16,000 in 2019. The crackdown was widely expected as reports indicated that the UK’s latest net migration figures to be released later this week will show a massive rise from 504,000 between June 2021 and 2022 despite a Conservative Party-led government pledge to bring down immigration in the wake of Brexit. [caption id=“attachment_12639102” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Indians, who recently overtook Chinese as the leading nationality granted study visas to the UK, are the highest cohort to access this visa launched in July 2021. AFP[/caption] “While the vast majority of students will be unaffected by proposals that limit the ability to be accompanied by dependants, more information is needed on the programmes that are in scope before a proper assessment of the impact can be made,” said Jamie Arrowsmith, Director of Universities UK International (UUKI) the representative body for 140 UK universities. “Yet we do know that any changes are likely to have a disproportionate impact on women and students from certain countries. We, therefore, urge the government to work with the sector to limit and monitor the impact on particular groups of students and on universities, which are already under serious financial pressures,” he said. **Also Read: UK’s asylum plan to stop Channel crossings and why it is so controversial** The UUKI welcomed confirmation that the new Graduate route visa, which allows students to stay on and seek work experience for up to three years at the end of their degree, will remain open and competitive. Indian students in UK International students, including Indians, contribute nearly 10 times more to the UK economy than they take out, according to a report by UK higher education institutions. Indians, who recently overtook Chinese as the leading nationality granted study visas to the UK, are the highest cohort to access this visa launched in July 2021. As per official data for 2020-21, there were 87,045 Indian first-year enrollments behind China’s 99,965 and ahead of Nigeria’s 32,945. Data reveals students have caused the sudden spurt in migration post COVID with a rise of 81 per cent since 2019. According to Financial Times, students, especially those from Nigeria and India, have become more likely to bring family with them, with 135,788 visas granted to dependants in 2022, up from 16,047 in 2019. In terms of the number of dependants accompanying these students, Nigerians rank the highest followed by Indians. The Home Office added that the changes to the student visa route do not detract from the success of the government’s International Education Strategy, including meeting the target to host 600,000 international higher education students studying in the UK each year by 2030. “Attracting the top students from around the world isn’t just good for our universities — it’s essential for our economy and building vital global relationships,” Education Secretary Gillian Keegan said. However, she added that the number of family members being brought to the UK by students has risen significantly. With inputs from PTI Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.