UK bars dependents with students under new immigration plan

To reduce the number of student visas being issued by the UK, the government announced a package of measures in May 2023. Check important updates made by UK government on the immigration plan.

United Kingdom’s new visa rule may stop some postgraduate students from bringing their dependents/family members. A new post on X by UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak reads, “From today, the majority of foreign university students cannot bring family members to the UK.” The announcement was made in regards with the part of measures announced last year to curb legal migration to the UK.

UK’s revised rule on bringing dependents

To reduce the number of student visas being issued by UK, the government announced a package of measures in May 2023. “Around 136,000 visas were granted to dependents [partner or children] ] of sponsored students in the year ending December 2022, a more than eight-fold increase from 16,000 in 2019, when the Government’s commitment to lower net migration was made,” said Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

Part of the government’s policy included “Removing the right for international students to bring dependants unless they are on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes.”

As per Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) Annual Report 2023, an independent public body that advises the government on immigration policy, the two main drivers of the rise in net migration of late are (i) The growth in migrant workers in Health and Social Care, and (ii) Growing international student numbers.

UK’s Plan on Immigration curb

Cleverly announced the plan in December 2023 on immigration curbs, based on income levels and workers’ skills:

• No dependents allowed on visas of Social Care workers (aid workers, clinical psychologists, nannies, palliative care workers, etc.).
• The baseline minimum salary to be ‘sponsored’ for a Skilled Worker visa will rise from £26,200 to £38,700 (but not for the Health and Care Worker (H&CW) visa). Employers need sponsor licences to employ someone to work for them from outside the UK. So, it will become costlier for UK employers to sponsor and employ migrant workers. This will happen in April 2024.
• Changes to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL). The list mentions specific jobs, for which workers can be paid 80% of the job’s usual going rate to qualify for a Skilled Worker visa. SOL jobs include Biological scientists and biochemists, archaeologists, certain categories of engineers, etc. – all seen as being in short supply in the country.
• The government now plans to significantly reduce the number of jobs where it will be possible to sponsor overseas workers below the minimum salary. Changes to the list will happen no earlier than April 2024.
• The minimum income normally required to sponsor someone for a spouse/partner visa will rise in stages, from £18,600 to £29,000 and ultimately around £38,700. The first increase will be in “spring 2024” and then to around £38,700 “in early 2025”, as per the government.
• The Migration Advisory Committee will begin to review the Graduate visa system this month. A Graduate visa is an unsponsored work permit for overseas graduates of British universities. The graduate route introduced in 2021 enables international students to remain in the UK for up to 2 years for undergraduate or Master’s degrees, and up to 3 years for doctoral degrees, following the completion of their course.

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