Overseas students, apart from those on postgraduate research programmes, will be banned from bringing dependents to the UK from January 2024 as the Government attempts to curb net migration.
The number of visas issued to dependents coming to Britain with international students has increased eight-fold – up from up from 16,000 in 2019 to 136,000 last year, according to Government figures.
Ms Braverman said: “The UK is a top destination for the brightest students to learn at some of the world’s best universities. But we have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of student dependents being brought into the country with visas.
Former Higher Education Minister Jo Johnson told Newsnight last night it was ‘nonsense’ to class overseas students & dependents as migrants as they were the ‘most compliant’ visa category of all
Net migration statistics are due to come out on Thursday and are expected to reveal record numbers, with some estimations that the total could reach one million.
