UK cities to lose millions of pounds due to restrictive visa rules for international students

Coventry University Vice-Chancellor Prof John Latham says the economy of UK cities may lose tens of millions of pounds due to recent government restrictions on international student visas.

According to the BBC, Latham noted that the regulations, along with political discourse, are discouraging students from studying in the UK.

In January, the government introduced restrictions to prevent most international students from bringing dependents with them.

In introducing the new rules at the start of the year, the UK Home Office said it also wanted to prevent student visas from being a “back route to work in the UK”.

However, the head of Coventry University said international students contribute more than £150m to Coventry’s economy and attributed a 40% annual drop in international student numbers to English universities during the intake from January political decisions.

Latham also said this has a “significant effect” on the university’s finances and the wider economy.

“The government is causing significant economic damage to communities like Coventry for the sake of chasing a few wrong headlines.

“There is a perception that international students are a burden on the economy, but the opposite is true because they spend money here and don’t use many public services.” he said.

He noted that the university is a key employer in the region and supports many additional jobs, either directly or indirectly, and said international students contribute “substantial spending to the city”.

Prehistory

In January, Nairametrics reported that the UK government introduced new regulations restricting Nigerian and other international students from bringing family members as dependents during their studies, except under specific conditions.

It noted that these students are now only allowed to bring dependents if they are enrolled in graduate programs classified as research initiatives.

The government, with this new rule, announced the removal of the option for international students to switch from student visas to work visas before completing their studies “to prevent abuse of the visa system”.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman revealed the measures are part of a strategy to reduce net migration.

What you should know

In a recent interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), Richard Montgomery, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, disclosed that the number of dependents accompanying Nigerian students to the United Kingdom (UK) has increased from about 1,500 to 52,000 between 2019 and 2022. .

He pointed out that before the 2019 coronavirus pandemic, there were only about 1,500 Nigerian dependents in the UK.

He said that by 2022, this figure has increased thirtyfold.

“In the case of Nigeria, in 2019, before the Coronavirus pandemic, only one and a half thousand dependents were brought from Nigeria on study visas.

“In 2022, that number has grown to fifty-two thousand dependents, so that’s a thirty-fold increase in dependency. And it’s not just about Nigeria, by the way,” Montgomery said.