by Press Trust of IndiaThe UK government on Tuesday announced a new immigration crackdown targeted at foreign students, including Indians, and their visa rights to bring dependent family members enrolled in a British institution into the country.
In a written statement to the House of Commons, UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman said that currently only international students on postgraduate courses designated as research programs can have members of their family, including children and elderly parents, as their dependents. Will be allowed to bring.
The Indian-origin minister said the new package of measures was necessary after nearly 136,000 visas were granted to dependents of sponsored students in the year ending December 2022 – a more than eightfold increase from 16,000 in 2019.
“This package includes: Removing the right of international students to bring dependents unless they are currently on postgraduate courses designated as research programmes,” notes Braverman’s statement.
Removing the ability for international students to switch from student routes to work routes before the completion of their studies and reviewing maintenance requirements for students and dependents are listed among other new measures.
The minister also promised to take steps to crack down on unscrupulous education agents, “who are endorsing unfair applications to sell immigration, not education”.
The new package also lists improved and more targeted enforcement activity.
“The terms of the graduate route remain unchanged… We remain committed to attracting the brightest and best in the UK. Therefore, we intend to work with universities over the next year to develop an alternative approach that ensures the best and brightest students can bring dependents to our world-leading universities while reducing net migration,” she said.
The new restrictions are expected to come into force “as soon as possible” after consultation with the educational sector and key stakeholders.
The crackdown was widely expected as reports indicated the latest UK net migration figures to be released later this week would show a massive increase of 504,000 between June 2021 and 2022, while the Conservative Party’s led government had pledged to reduce immigration in the wake of Brexit. ,
Jamie Arrowsmith, director, said: “The vast majority of students will be unaffected by proposals that limit the ability to live with dependents, further information is needed on the programs that are in scope before a proper assessment of the impact can be made.” UK Association of Universities International (UUKI) – the representative body for the 140 UK universities.
“Nevertheless we know that any changes are likely to have a disproportionate impact on women and students in some countries. Therefore, we call on the government to do more with the region to limit and monitor the impact on particular groups of students – and universities We urge you to work together.” , who are already under severe financial pressure,” he said.
UKI welcomed confirmation that the new Graduate Route visa, which allows students to stay for three years at the end of their degree and gain work experience, will remain “open and competitive”.
Indians, who recently overtook the Chinese as the leading nationality granted study visas to the UK, are the group most likely to use this visa, launched in July 2021.
According to 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.
In terms of the number of dependents accompanying these students, Nigerians top the list, followed by Indians.