By Saheed Ibrahim
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Nigerians could be disallowed to bring their spouses and children to the UK unless they study “high-value” degrees, as the government continues to debate policy changes.
According to The Times, Nigerians and other foreign nationals would only be allowed to bring their families to the UK if they are studying courses that are considered to be of high value to the economy, such as science, maths and engineering.
Currently, foreign students, who are studying at the postgraduate level, can bring their family members to the UK irrespective of their course of study
The Hope gathered that one of the officials of the Home Office confirmed that all immigration policies are “under constant review to ensure they best serve the country and reflect the public’s priorities.
“Our points-based system is designed to be flexible according to the UK’s needs – including attracting top-class talent from across the world to contribute to the UK’s excellent academic reputation and to help keep our universities competitive on the world stage,” the spokesperson said.
A formal announcement from the UK government on international student policy updates is expected imminently, although there are criticisms against making changes to policy surrounding foreign students in the UK.
Last year, 22% (135,788) of all study-related visas were granted by the UK government to dependants of students, compared to 6% (16,047) in 2019.
Nigerian students had the highest number of dependants in 2022, increasing to 60,923 from 1,586 in 2019, while Indian nationals had the second highest at 38,990.
There were almost 120,000 dependant visas granted to the top 5 nationalities (Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka) in 2022.
