The United Kingdom government has announced today the ban on foreign students bringing dependants over with them to study. The move follows reports of official statistics confirming that net migration in the UK rose to 700,000 in the year to December 2022.

International students will no longer be able to bring dependants with them unless they are on postgraduate courses that are currently designated as research programmes. In a written ministerial statement published today, 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.

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The package will also remove the ability 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”, the government said.

As well as removing this right, there will also be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on “unscrupulous” education agents “who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education”.

The ban will come into effect from January 2024 in order to allow future international students time to plan ahead.and will affect all master’s students and some other post-graduates, but it will not apply to PhD students who are highly skilled and whose courses last between 3 to 5 years.