The United Kingdom’s Home Office has introduced new rules, preventing foreign students from bringing their family members to the country. This change may impact Pakistani students who used to have their parents or spouses join them in the UK.
While the Home Office did not provide detailed explanations, it seems the ban is aimed at discouraging international students from starting families while studying in the UK on a student visa. The Home Office, in a statement, emphasized its commitment to making a ‘decisive’ reduction in migration.
As of now, new foreign students will no longer be allowed to bring their family members to the UK. However, exceptions will be made for postgraduate research or government-funded scholarship students.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak supported this decision, stating that his government is actively ‘delivering’ for the British people.
We are fully committed to seeing a decisive cut in migration.
— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) January 1, 2024
From today, new overseas students will no longer be able to bring family members to the UK.
Postgraduate research or government-funded scholarships students will be exempt. pic.twitter.com/QpwEf9BCfj
These measures were initially announced in May by the then-Foreign Minister Suella Braverman, responding to a perceived high migration number of 745,000 people. Home Secretary James Cleverly deemed it an “unreasonable practice” for foreign students to bring their family members, asserting that this move would significantly contribute to the goal of reducing overall migration by tens of thousands.
When originally announced in May, Braverman noted a significant increase in the number of dependents coming to the UK with students, rising from 16,000 in 2019 to 136,000 in 2022. Statistics published by The Guardian indicate that Nigerian students brought the most dependents to the UK, followed by those from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.
The UK has already raised salary thresholds to limit the migration of workers into the country, and there are expectations that these limits will increase further in the coming months.