Ban on bringing family on student visas to the UK, has another door to going abroad closed?
The British government has now rolled back the previously announced tough measures regarding visas for foreign students coming to the country. From 1 January 2024, tougher government measures mean that many international students will not be able to bring their families to the UK.
The government says that these restrictions on student visas have been implemented by the government to reduce the number of immigrants in the country and prevent abuse of the immigration system.
According to the UK Home Office, international students starting courses from this month will not be eligible to bring family members, but the ban will not apply to postgraduate research courses and government-funded scholarships.
The changes, first announced in May last year, also included a ban on people using student visas as a ‘backdoor route’ to work in the UK, which is now in force.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sonic’s X (formerly Twitter) message, which many believe will control the number of immigrants, is angry that the government is not only making life more difficult for foreign students. But because of these foreign students, it is also destroying the income of domestic universities.
Many people on social media termed it as ‘bad news for students at the beginning of the new year’ and warned the government that with this move, students will start preferring universities in other countries in the future.
Why was this restriction necessary?
In a statement released on January 2, the British government says that foreigners are using student visas to immigrate to the UK, which is increasing the number of foreign immigrants in the country. “The new restrictions are actually meant to control that pressure.”
The UK Office for National Statistics estimates that 672,000 people moved to the UK between June 2022 and June 2023. 152,980 visas were issued to dependents of students in the year ending September 2023, a 930 percent increase from 14,839 in the year ending September 2019.
The British government says the changes to the rules on student dependents are part of a wider package of measures to bring the number of migrants coming to the UK to a sustainable level and improve the UK’s immigration system. There will be a crackdown on those who take advantage of the flexibility.
Home Secretary James Caverley says the government is keeping its promise to the British people to reduce immigration.
“We have drawn up a tough plan to rapidly reduce numbers, control our borders and prevent people from manipulating our immigration system, which will come into force later this year.”
Tom Pursglove, the UK’s legal immigration and border minister, said: ‘Our outstanding universities have a right to attract the brightest students from around the world to the UK, but we have to limit the number of dependents brought by students. The number has seen an increase, which is increasing the level of immigration. We are absolutely committed to seeing a drastic reduction in immigration.
The government says it will work with universities to develop an alternative approach to continue to attract the brightest and best to the UK and bring their dependents, while reducing immigration. can go.
‘It’s easy to settle in another country from the UK’
Kashf has recently shifted to UK for her studies. She is doing MCC and is among the students who recently moved there with her family.
Taking her husband and seven-month-old son along for Kashf was both a necessity and a compulsion. She says that she could not leave such a small child and anyway I wanted to go with the family.
Kashf said that currently she will complete her education but in the future her intention is to find opportunities in UK or any European country or Canada.
The advantage of living here is that it is easy to settle in another country from here. The difficulties that occur in Pakistan for visa appointments or we avoid the restrictions faced in Pakistan regarding travel abroad.
He said that it is not easy to bring a family i.e. husband and children or wife and children on a student visa. He said that it is also important that you provide your complete bank statement and prove to them that you can afford the expenses of yourself and your family during the academic year or course. The embassy issues a visa if it is confident that you will not be dependent on the British government for your expenses.
“It is also important that the educational institution from which you want to study has a good ranking and then the university does not have any problem with bringing your family.”
Kashf said that there are many students whose aim is only to get education, but at least among those he knows, such students are those who are unmarried. Most married people try to invite family (mostly spouses) as well.
She said that a friend of hers who had just got married came at first only to study, but with the passage of time her intention changed and she also invited her husband to look for opportunities to settle in the UK. can
Rao Khalid runs a travel agency. He says that according to his estimation, only 35% of the students going abroad on student visas are actually going for educational purposes. Most of them aim to be steel abroad.
He said that for obtaining a student visa, bank statements are obtained, admission is also taken in an institution, students only have to arrange the fees and their own expenses, so there are more problems in obtaining the visa. They don’t happen.’
He said, “Since most of them are young men and women of 20 to 30 years who go abroad on this visa, who are mostly unmarried, they do not need to invite their families in the beginning, but for one to three years. After living there, they marry in Pakistan and take them as dependents.’
Rao Khalid said that 70 percent of the students who go abroad for the purpose of education aim to settle there and four countries for Pakistani students are the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada.
How many students come to UK?
In the 12 months to the end of September 2023, the government issued 486,107 study visas. Half of them were given to Indian and Chinese nationals.
Students from Nigeria were the most common nationality among student visa holders, followed by Pakistan and the United States.
Students of postgraduate courses can also apply for visas for qualifying dependents: this includes a husband, wife or unmarried partner and any children under the age of 18.
In the year ending September 2023, 152 thousand 980 people were issued visas.
But from January 2024 the government will end the right to invite dependents for international students unless they are on postgraduate courses designated as research programmes.
Students who have already completed their degree can stay in the UK for up to two years (three years for doctoral degree holders) to work under a graduate visa. By the end of September 2023, 104,501 such visas had been issued, excluding dependents.
How has Brexit changed immigration?
Before Brexit, EU and UK citizens had the freedom to live, work or study in any EU country without the need for a work visa, however, this freedom of movement ends on 1 January 2021.
In the 12 months to June 2023, 86,000 people emigrated from the EU. This means that more EU citizens left the UK.
The total migration of non-EU nationals, the difference between arrivals and departures, was 768,000.
The total migration figure for British citizens was recorded at 10,000, but more people left the UK than returned.