United Kingdom to end migration of foreign students' families

Robert Besser
27 May 2023, 04:20 GMT+10

As part of PM Rishi Sunak's measures to bring down annual net migration, international students will be prevented from bringing family members into the country
The interior ministry said the new measures will help reduce migration "substantially" and stop people from using student visas as a backdoor route to find work in Britain
Current rules allow postgraduate students studying courses lasting nine months or longer to bring partners and children to Britain

LONDON, England: As part of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's measures to bring down annual net migration, which reached a record last year, international students will be prevented from bringing family members into the country.

The interior ministry said the new measures, which target post-graduate students except those in research programs, will help reduce migration "substantially" and stop people from using student visas as a backdoor route to find work in Britain.

"We have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of student dependents being brought into the country with visas," interior minister Suella Braverman said in a statement.

"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."

Current rules allow postgraduate students studying courses lasting nine months or longer to bring partners and children to Britain, but the government said the number of dependents had jumped eightfold since 2019, to 136,000 people last year.

Britain will also remove the ability for international students to switch out of the student visa into work visas before their studies have been completed, the interior ministry said.

Student visas accounted for the largest proportion of migration to the UK, with 486,000 issued last year, it added.

Watch latest videos

News RELEASES

Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Perth Herald.

More Information

21 ℃

Partly Cloudy in Perth

International Business

Section

Russian brands replace Western clothing after invasion of Ukraine

MOSCOW, Russia: After a turbulent 15 months of store closures and declining demand, Russian designers and brands are assisting the ...

In first visit in 3 years, Elon Musk visit's Tesla plants in China

BEIJING, China: On his return to China after a three year absence, which is his company's largest production hub, Tesla ...

Nvidia joins ranks of major US businesses valued at over $1 trillion

SANTA CLARA, California: As investors piled more capital into Nvidia, the chipmaker that has become one of the biggest winners ...

Washington coordinates 14-country supply chain agreement

WASHINGTON D.C.: The U.S. Commerce Department has said that trade ministers from 14 countries have taken part in the US-led ...

Georgian billionaire wins $926 million from Credit Suisse in fraud

ZURICH, Switzerland: In one of the largest legal awards ever against Credit Suisse, the bank was ordered to pay $926 ...

Pirates look to finish off sweep of Cardinals

The Pittsburgh Pirates appear to be revisiting their April play now that May is behind them, which would be a ...

Australia

Section