U.K. CONSIDERS RESTRICTIONS AS NIGERIAN MIGRANTS ACCOUNT FOR HIGHEST NUMBER OF DEPENDANTS

The United Kingdom is considering tightening the rules on how many relatives migrants can bring into the country as as Nigerian migrants account for the highest number of dependants.

DailyMail reports that UK Home secretary, Suella Braverman, is considering tightening the rules on dependant after its figures showed a startling inconsistency across different nationalities coming to the UK to work and study.

Its report shows that Nigerians accounted for 40% of all dependants who accompanied foreign students in the 12 months to June – despite Nigerian students making up just 7% of all foreign students during the period.

Some 34,000 Nigerians were given study visas in the UK, bringing with them a total of 31,898 dependants. A similar ratio was recorded for work visas, with 8,972 Nigerians issued with one in the 12 months to June bringing with them 8,576 dependants.

According to a Home Office spokesman: “In the year ending June 2022, there were 486,868 Sponsored study visas granted (to both main applicants and their dependants), 71% (202,147) more than 2019.

The number of Sponsored study visas granted in the year ending June 2022, is the highest on record in our time series, with the substantial increase representing both a recovery from lower numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic but also an increase on the pre-pandemic period.

There were 117,965 grants to Indian nationals in the year ending June 2022, an increase of 80,569 (+215%) compared to 2019. Chinese nationals were the second most common nationality granted Sponsored study visas in the year ending June 2022, with 115,056 visas granted, 4% lower than the number seen in 2019 (119,825).

In the other top 5 nationalities, Nigerian nationals saw the largest relative increase in Sponsored Study grants compared with 2019, increasing by 57,545 (+686%) to a record high of 65,929, making them the third largest nationality group in the last year.