According to Richard Montgomery, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, the United Kingdom’s (UK) decision to prohibit international students from bringing dependents with them is not directed towards Nigerians.
The measure, according to the UK representative, is intended to defend UK infrastructure as the number of students bringing their families from all over the world has increased in recent years.
Following a meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the State House in Abuja on Wednesday, June 21, the British High Commissioner made this statement.
According to Montgomery, the number of Nigerian students enrolling at universities in the UK surged five times in just three years, along with the overall number of international students.
For the large population that is moving to the UK with their families, Montgomery continued, it is not always possible to obtain housing and services.
In order to prevent people from using the student visa as a backdoor route to employment in the UK, the UK Home Office said in May that it will limit international students from bringing family members with them starting in 2024.
When asked if he and the Vice President had addressed migration between Nigeria and the UK, the British High Commissioner replied that they had not, but added, “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 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.”
