UK introduces Draconian foreign student laws in a crackdown in Nigerians and others

BRITAIN has introduced new Draconian foreign student immigration laws stop Nigerians and others studying in the UK from bringing their family members into the country as dependents except under specific circumstances.

To come into effect in January 2024, the new laws are part of the plans of the Conservative government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to bring immigration, which currently stands at around 1m, down. Under the new rules, the UK will remove the permission for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed to prevent misuse of the visa system.

Also, there will be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on those the government calls unscrupulous education agents, who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education. This change takes effect in January to allow students starting courses in the UK time to plan to adapt to the new regime.

In a written ministerial statement published on Tuesday Home Secretary Suella Braverman said recent immigration figures had shown an unexpected rise in the number of dependants coming to the UK alongside international students. Nigeria is one of the countries being targeted in this crackdown, as her students are seen as those exploiting this loophole the most.

According to the UK government, in the academic year ending June 2022, 486,868 sponsored study visas were granted, including dependants, which is 71% more than in 2019, the last full year before the pandemic. Of that number, 81,089 visas were granted to dependants of sponsored students, which was over five times the 2019 number, according to Home Office statistics.

Meanwhile, the number of the dependants of Nigerian students in the UK surged by 3,156.5%  to 51,648 in September 2022 from 1,586 in 2019, according to new official immigration data. According to the data, Nigeria recorded the highest number of dependants followed by Indian nationals, whose numbers had risen to 33,239 from 3,135.