The United Kingdom, via its Home Office, has declared that it will begin enforcing its restriction on dependent visas, which will prevent foreign students from Ghana and other foreign nationals from bringing family members.
The UK Home Office made the news via X on Monday, restating that the study visas could only be used by international students engaged in postgraduate research or receiving government-sponsored scholarships and that no other students could bring their families.
“We sincerely want to see a significant reduction in migration. Family visits to the UK will no longer be permitted for incoming international students as of right now. Students on postgraduate research or government-funded scholarships will not be subject to this, according to the Home Office.
Recall that, from May 2023, the Home Office, led by Suella Braverman, prohibited Nigerian students and other foreign students studying in the UK from bringing their families as dependents unless certain conditions were met.
The UK will no longer allow international students to transition from the student to the employment pathway before their studies are finished in order to prevent visa system abuse under the new policy.
A crackdown on “unscrupulous” education agents who use unsuitable applications to sell immigration rather than education will also take place, according to a report by Sky News. The assessment of maintenance requirements for students and dependents will also take place.
In a statement posted on their website, the Home Office revealed that the goal of the dependent visa prohibition policy was to lower migration. It said, “As the government works to reduce migration and stop immigration system misuse, restrictions on student visa routes went into force yesterday.
“With the exception of postgraduate research courses and courses with government-funded scholarships, family members of international students enrolled in classes beginning this month will no longer be permitted to attend. In addition to prohibiting the use of the student visa as a backdoor to work in the UK, the changes—which were first announced in May of last year—will result in an estimated 140,000 fewer visitors to the country.
According to statistics from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), net migration was 672,000 between June 2022 and June 2023. Dependents of students received 152,980 visas in September 2023, a more than 930% increase from 14,839 in the same month the previous year.
The modifications to the student dependency regulations are a part of a larger set of policies that will be implemented in order to significantly reduce the high number of immigrants entering the UK to levels that are sustainable and to toughen up against those who abuse the system’s laxity.
