BRITAIN is mulling over restrictions on the number of dependants international students can bring to the county as the government grapples to bring down the net immigration levels, a media report said.
Ministers are considering barring students from bringing families unless they are studying at a higher level, such as a master’s degree or PhD, The Times reported.
Official data showed UK visas were granted to 490,763 foreign students in 2022 and the number of spouses and children accompanying them went up to 135,788 from 16,047 in 2019.
While the contribution foreign students make to the UK’s economy is well known, home secretary Suella Braverman has made it clear that it must be balanced with the pressure they place on public services.
The Times report said the government has not made a final decision on the contentious matter.
A study suggested international students add £35 billion a year to the economy.
Experts have been warning the government against bringing down the students coming to the UK saying such a measure will hurt the UK’s universities and push them towards collapse.
Professor Brian Bell, who heads the government’s Migration Advisory Committee, said many universities were dependent on the income from overseas students’ fees to provide cross-subsidies to domestic students.
Most British universities lose money teaching local students due to subsidised fees and the loss is offset by charging more for international students.
“If you close the international route I’m not sure how the university continues to survive,” Bell told BBC Radio 4 last year.
“Because of that cross subsidisation that we get from international students, it (any restrictions on the number of overseas students) could send many universities over the edge,” the professor of economics at King's Business School, said.
Eastern Eye could not reach the Home Office for comment.
UK mulling curbs on foreign students’ families: Report
Kulsuma Aktergetty images