Dependant restrictions push UK student visa numbers down

The number of dependants accompanying international students to the UK has fallen by nearly 80 per cent after the Westminster government introduced stricter restrictions.

Home Office data show that 6,700 family members accompanied overseas students to the UK in the first three months of 2024, compared with 32,900 during the same period last year, a drop of 79.6 per cent. Since January, those on taught master’s courses have been unable to bring their spouses or children with them from abroad, leaving only those on postgraduate research courses with this entitlement.

The tightening of the rules came amid concern about rapid growth in the number of dependants accompanying students to the UK and the impact of this on overall net migration figures.

The fall in the number of dependants entering the UK contributed to a 44.1 per cent overall decline in the number of sponsored study visas issued in the first three months of 2024, compared with the same period last year.

Some 40,700 such visas were granted between January and March, compared with 72,800 12 months previously. The number of main applicants – in other words, the students themselves – was down 14.8 per cent, from 39,900 to 34,000.

The number of main applicants securing visas is down 27.5 per cent in two years – for the same period in 2022, the total number stood at 46,900.

The Home Office said it was “necessary to await the peak in student applications for the next academic year”, which usually comes in August and September, “before we can see the full effect of recent policy changes and any other impacts”.

But the data will add weight to university leaders’ contention that changes to policy already made have achieved the government’s aim of restraining the number of visas being issued and that further changes could do significant damage to institutions that rely heavily on international student tuition fees to balance the books.

Figures released by Universities UK indicated that overseas enrolments on taught postgraduate courses starting in January were down 44 per cent year on year.

The Westminster government seems unlikely to let the issue lie, however, with the Migration Advisory Committee having been tasked with producing a review of the graduate visa route by the middle of this month and Office for National Statistics migration data due out by the end of May.

There are suggestions that ministers will seek to shorten the length of the post-study work visa from two years, while a report published by the Onward thinktank earlier this week – co-authored by former Downing Street chief of staff Nick Timothy and endorsed by former education secretary Michael Gove – suggested that only the “highest-performing” institutions should be able to sponsor foreign students.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, said: “This does not mark the end of the road in our plan to cut migration; there is more still to come.”

chris.havergal@timeshighereducation.com