Overseas students including those from Nigeria will no longer be able to bring family members to the United Kingdom from January 1, 2024.
Gatekeepers News reports that the United Kingdom Home Office disclosed this in a New Year post on X (formerly Twitter).
The post read, “We are fully committed to seeing a decisive cut in migration.
“From today (Monday), new overseas students will no longer be able to bring family members to the UK.”
The UK Home Office, however, exempted postgraduate research or government-funded scholarship students from the ban.
The United Kingdom had first announced moves to stop overseas students from bringing migrants to the UK in mid-2023. The move was part of an immigration crackdown on students moving family members to the UK.
The UK is one of the top destinations for Nigerian youths who are relocating in pursuit of better education, employment and security purposes, among other reasons.
At least 135,788 family members reportedly tagged along as students moved into Britain for study in 2022 — nine times more than in 2019.
A report noted that, “Last year, 59,053 Nigerian students brought over 60,923 relatives.”
Meanwhile, the UK noted that it would raise the minimum salary threshold for a skilled worker visa and prevent overseas health and social care staff from bringing family dependents to Britain.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said the proposals as “the biggest clampdown on legal migration ever”.
Nevertheless, critics said it would damage the state-run National Health Service (NHS), which faces staff shortages.
On his part, the Interior Minister, James Cleverly said his plan would result in 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK in the coming years.
