Most overseas students are no longer able to bring family members to the UK from January 1, 2024. Starting January 2023, international students will no longer be able to bring family members to all but postgraduate research courses and courses with government-funded scholarships. The measures, first announced in May, also prohibit foreigners from using the student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK, and an estimated 140,000 fewer people will visit the country.
Student visa restrictions have been put in place, as the government strives to reduce migration and combat exploitation of the immigration system.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimated that net migration was 672,000 from June 2022 to June 2023. In the year ending September 2023, 152,980 visas were issued to dependants of students, a more than 930% rise from the 14,839 in the year ending September 2019.
The modifications to student visas strike the correct balance between eliminating the opportunity for universities to damage the UK’s reputation by pushing immigration over education and maintaining the appeal of the country’s top-ranked higher education system.
Measures taken earlier by the UK government were to end the abuse of health and care visas by stopping overseas care workers from bringing dependants and requiring care firms in England to be regulated by the Care Quality Commission to sponsor visas.
Salary thresholds across the skilled worker route will also be increased by nearly 50% to £38,700, while the government is also cracking down on cut-price labour from overseas by scrapping the 20% salary discount for shortage occupations and replacing the Shortage Occupation List.
The minimum income requirement for British or settled people sponsoring family members to join them in the UK will also be increased to £38,700 by Spring 2025.
