The ability of international students to bring their families and dependents to the United Kingdom could be restricted under new immigration rules.

After it was discovered that almost 136,000 visas will be awarded to dependents of sponsored students in the year ending in December 2022, a more than eight-fold increase from the 16,000 visas that would be granted in 2019, the minister of origin Indian stated that the new package of safeguards was essential.

ability of international

The government of the United Kingdom has announced plans for a new immigration crackdown that will target international students, especially Indians, and their visa rights to bring family members who are dependents into the country while they are enrolled in a British educational institution.

Only international students who are enrolled in postgraduate courses that are now categorised as research programmes will be permitted to bring in their family members as their dependents. This includes children and elderly parents. This announcement was made by the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, Suella Braverman, in a written statement to the House of Commons.

After it was discovered that almost 136,000 visas will be awarded to dependents of sponsored students in the year ending in December 2022, a more than eight-fold increase from the 16,000 visas that would be granted in 2019, the minister of origin Indian stated that the new package of safeguards was essential.

According to Braverman’s statement, this package includes abolishing the right for overseas students to bring dependents with them into the country, unless the students are enrolled in postgraduate studies that are now recognised as research programmes.

Among the other new measures, there will be a restriction placed on the ability of international students to convert from the student path to the work route before their academic programmes have been finished, and there will also be a review of the maintenance obligations that apply to students and their dependents.

In addition, the minister promised to take action to crack down on unscrupulous education agents who may be sponsoring improper applications in order to sell immigration rather than education. In addition, the new package includes enforcement activity that is both improved and more specifically targeted.

The conditions of the graduation route have not changed… We are dedicated to luring the most intelligent and capable individuals to the United Kingdom. According to what she said, as a result, our objective is to work with universities over the course of the next year to establish an alternate system that will ensure that the smartest and greatest students will be able to bring dependents to our universities that rank among the top in the world while still maintaining our commitment to reducing net migration.

Following discussions with representatives from the educational sector and other important stakeholders, the new restrictions are anticipated to be implemented as quickly as practicable.

The crackdown was widely anticipated as sources suggested that the United Kingdom’s most recent net migration data, which are scheduled to be announced later this week, will show a significant increase from 504,000 between June 2021 and 2022. This will occur despite a vow made by the Conservative Party-led government to reduce immigration in the wake of Brexit.

Jamie Arrowsmith, Director of Universities UK International (UUKi), which is the representative body for 140 UK universities, stated that even though the vast majority of students will not be impacted by the proposals that limit the ability to be accompanied by dependents, additional information is required on the programmes that are in scope before a proper assessment of the impact can be made. This was stated by Jamie Arrowsmith.

Nevertheless, we are aware that any alterations will almost certainly have a disproportionate effect on students and women hailing from particular nations. According to what he said, “We therefore urge the government to work with the sector to limit and monitor the impact on particular student groups as well as on universities, which are already under serious financial pressures.”

UUKi expressed their gratitude for the confirmation that the new Graduate route visa, which enables students to remain in the country after the completion of their degree and look for work experience for up to three years, will continue to be open to competition.

Indians are the greatest cohort to obtain this visa, which was made available in July 2021. Indians just surpassed Chinese as the leading nationality given study visas to the United Kingdom.

According to the official figures for the academic year 2020-21, there were 87,045 first-year enrollments in Indian institutions, which was lower than China’s total of 99,965 but higher than Nigeria’s total of 32,945. The number of dependents that accompany these students is highest among Nigerians, followed by the number of dependents that accompany Indians.

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