The UK government has announced that family members of international students studying in the UK will not be allowed to visit the UK under the pretext of visiting or accompanying them. This includes partners, children, parents, dependents, etc.

UK ban on family members accompanying international students

In a statement issued on May 23, 2023, by the UK Secretary of State for the home department, Suella Braverman noted that recent UK immigration statistics revealed an unexpected increase in the number of dependants accompanying international students coming to the UK. In the year ending December 2022, approximately 136,000 visas were granted to dependants of foreign students, which represents a 750% increase compared to 2019 when the government issued 16,000 visas.

To address the goal of reducing net migration while simultaneously supporting economic growth, the UK government has introduced a number of measures that will come into effect on January 2024. These measures include;

• International students will have no right to bring dependants to the UK unless they are undertaking postgraduate research programmes.
• International students will no longer be able to switch from student to work routes before completing their studies.
• Clamping down on education agents that are using education applications to facilitate immigration

These measures do not only affect Kenyan students but all foreign students studying in the UK. Countries with the highest number of international students studying in the UK that will be most affected by the changes include China, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the United States, Bangladesh, Malaysia, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Saudi Arabia, etc. On the other hand, the University College of London, the University of Manchester, The University of Edinburgh, The University of Glasgow, and King’s College London have the highest number of international students.

The UK government insists that it is committed to attracting the brightest students to the UK but it is taking measures to avoid student dependant permission being abused.