Visa Restriction On Foreign Students’ Family Not Targeted At Nigerians — UK Envoy
EkoHotBlog reports that the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery has said recently announced British policy that prevents students on study visa from bringing their family members to the UK is not targeted at Nigerians only
Richard added that the policy was also to curb the inflow of migrants and avoid overburdening the country’s housing infrastructure.
Speaking after his meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja on Wednesday Montgomery said, “Many more students are trying to bring their dependents with them… but it’s not always possible to find the housing and services to meet all the needs of all our existing student population…we’ll have to manage our migration in and out of the UK,”.
Recall that on May 23, the UK Home Office said international students, including Nigerians, would no longer be able to bring family members with them starting January 2024.
It also announced that overseas students would be stopped from switching from the student visa route to a work visa until their studies have been completed.
EkoHotBlog reports that the decision has been greeted with mixed reactions from international students, schools, and some British lawmakers who argued that the regulation would aggravate labour shortages in critical sectors such as healthcare and threaten the country’s global standing as a top destination for international talent.
But in response to a question from our correspondent, the British High Commissioner gave reasons for the regulation saying, “I think there are two issues here. The first is, it’s not always possible to find the housing and services to meet all the needs of all our existing student population.”
“And second, reasonable people would accept that we have to manage our visitor numbers and we’ll have to manage our migration in and out of the UK just as the Nigerian government would do,” he added.
The diplomat added the UK granted three million new visas last year, out of which 325,000 were between Nigeria and the UK.
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