The United Kingdom has slammed restrictions on student visa routes in a bid to cut net migration, a statement on Tuesday announced.
The policy restricts students from Nigeria and other countries from bringing family members on all but postgraduate research routes.
The government also banned people from using a student visa as a backdoor route to work in the UK, noting that net migration was over 500,000 from June 2021 to June 2022.
The announcement has been made two days before official statistics are expected to show legal migration has hit a record 700,000 this year.
There was a division within government about going further – and possibly banning the dependants of all postgraduate students, including those on research courses.
But some ministers, including Education Secretary Gillian Keegan, argued they were based in the UK longer and provided greater economic benefits.