This content was published on May 23, 2023 – 12:34
London, May 23 (EFE). – The UK will ban international students from bringing their dependent family members with them from January 2024, as an immigration control measure, although the measure excludes those undertaking certain postgraduate studies. Secretary Soella Braverman announced Tuesday.
“I am pleased to announce a range of measures to help achieve our goal of reducing net migration, while supporting the government’s priority of growing the economy,” Braverman said in a parliamentary statement.
Specifically, the measures include rescinding the right of foreign students to bring dependents — unless they are on graduate courses designated as research programs — and ending the possibility of changing their status from student to worker before completing their training.
Similarly, the minister said the government would take measures against “unscrupulous educational agents who may support improper applications to sell immigration, not education,” referring to cases where such applications act as screens for obtaining a visa to enter the country.
To do this, as explained by the Head of Home Affairs, the government will improve communication with the immigration rules for international students.
According to the government, in 2022, about 136,000 visas were granted to dependents of students, eight times more than the 16,000 in 2019.
The minister set herself the goal of reducing the number of legal and illegal immigrants, given the increase in small boats crossing the English Channel from France to England.
It is estimated that, so far this year, more than 5,000 migrants have crossed the waters of the canal. EFE
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