Mr.Richard Montgomery, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, says his country’s new policy barring foreign students from bringing family members into that country is not targeted at Nigerians.
The High Commissioner explains that the rule, which takes effect in 2024 was promulgated to protect infrastructure in the United Kingdom (UK) from the rising number of dependents that foreign students take to that country.
He said the number of family members that foreign students take to the UK from around the world, surged remarkably in the last few years.
The High Commissioner disclosed this on Wednesday, following a meeting with Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima in State House, Abuja.
He said the number of Nigerian students going to the UK increased five folds in three years and that the overall number of international students also increased.
He further observed that while the rise in foreign students favoured universities in the UK, it was often difficult to find housing and other services for the huge number of family members.
The UK Home Office recently stated that it would restrict foreign students from bringing family members with them effective 2024 to stop people from using the student visa as a backdoor channel to work in the UK.
Asked whether migration between Nigeria and the UK was discussed at his meeting with the Vice President, British High Commissioner said the issue was not raised at the meeting “but I would like to put the media debate about it in a broader context”.
Montgomery said, “Last year (2022), for example, the UK granted three million new visas, of which 325,000 of those visas were to Nigerians. So, Nigerian visitors constitute over 10 per cent of the people coming to London and the UK.
“On the issue of student visas, I’ll also like to provide a context. The number of Nigerian students coming to the UK has increased five folds in the last three years. It’s a fantastic success story for our universities. And we are really delighted that so many Nigerians are coming to the UK.
“The issue about restrictions on people bringing dependents, that’s partly not because of Nigeria but many parts of the world, many more students are trying to bring their dependents with them.
“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 secondly, we’ll have to manage our visitors’ number, we have to manage migration in and out of the UK just as the Nigerian Government does.”
