The government of the United Kingdom yesterday barred international students from bringing family members as dependents to the country in a move to cut immigration.

Under the new proposals, only students on longer postgraduate courses designated as research programmes, such as Ph.D., will be able to bring dependants to the UK while they study.

The changes will come into effect from January 2024.

Overseas students will be prevented from switching “out of the student route into work routes” before their studies have been completed.

There will also be “improved and more enforcement activity” and a clamp down on “unscrupulous agents” using education as a cover for immigration, according to the government statement.

It said net migration has been steadily on the rise and is reportedly expected to hit a record high this year.

In the written ministerial statement, 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.

She said the increase was made after the government made its commitment to lower net migration.

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