TRIBUNE
The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, on Wednesday explained that the United Kingdom’s decision to ban international students from bringing family members with them from 2024 is to prevent undue pressure on the host’s housing infrastructure and control migration.
He made the assertion to correspondents after a closed door meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“Many more students are trying to bring their dependents with them…but it’s not always possible to find the housing and services to meets all the needs of all our existing student population…we’ll have to manage our migration in and out of the UK,” he said.
Recall that the UK Home Office had said on May 23 that international students, including Nigerians, would no longer be able to bring family members with them starting January 2024.
It also announced that overseas students would be stopped from switching from the student visa route to a work visa until their studies have been completed.
However, critics of the policy had argued that it would aggravate labour shortages in critical sectors such as healthcare and threaten the country’s global standing as a top destination for international talents.
Answering a question on the issue, the British High Commissioner stated: “I think 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 second, reasonable people would accept that we have to manage our visitor numbers and we’ll have to manage our migration in and out of the UK just as the Nigerian government would do.”
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