The United Kingdom has announced that foreign students cannot bring family members into the country except on certain conditions. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, who is also a product of migration made the announcement as part of the mechanism to reduce net migration. 

In her speech, the Home Secretary said that all foreign students, apart from those on postgraduate research programmes will be prevented from bringing their spouses, children or parents to UK from January 2024.

The ban will affect all master’s degree students and some other post-graduates, but it will not apply to PhD students who are highly skilled and whose courses last between 3 to 5 years.

If enacted, the clamp-down will affect many Nigerian students hoping to pursue their postgraduate studies in the UK, as they accounted for the highest increase in the number of dependants accompanying persons with study visas in 2022.

Under the new rule, UK will remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes prior to completing their studies to prevent misuse of the visa system.

This new law comes after indications had emerged that the UK plans to put stricter laws in place to bring down the climbing number of immigrants into the country via studies.

According to some sources, Nigeria had the highest number of dependants (60,923) of sponsored study visa holders in 2022, while India had the second highest number of dependants (38,990).

Analysis of visas issued by the United Kingdom in 2022 to Nigerians revealed that there were more visas granted for Nigerian dependants than for Nigerian students.

Data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency of the UK revealed that 44,195 study visas were issued to Nigerians for the 2021/2022 academic session.