Foreign Masters students in Britain should no longer be able to bring their relatives into the country in the future. The corresponding visas will no longer be issued from January 1, 2024, the government announced today in London. The measure aims to reduce the number of legal immigrants. Despite Brexit and against the wishes of the London government, this has continued to rise in recent years.
Growing number of non-European immigrants
However, while EU immigrants are now of little importance, the number of immigrants from non-EU countries has risen sharply. Students and their families play an important role in this. According to government figures, 136,000 visas for student spouses or children were issued in 2022 alone, more than eight times as many as in 2019. At that time, 16,000 people were allowed to enter the UK in this way.
It is “the biggest restrictive measure that any government has ever taken”, the government said in London. “This package strikes the right balance between taking bold steps to reduce immigration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK,” Home Secretary Suella Braverman told parliament. In the medium term, this will lead to a decline in immigration numbers to pre-pandemic levels, the minister said.