The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, 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 talent.
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.”
Montgomery revealed that Nigerian students coming to the UK had increased fivefolds in the last three years, even as they make up 10 per cent of those granted UK visas annually.
“That issue was not raised in the meeting (with the Vice President) just now. But I would like to put the media debate about it in a broader context. Last year (2022), for example, the UK granted three million new visas, of which 325,000 were to Nigerians.
“Nigerian visitors constitute over 10 per cent of the people coming to London and the UK.
“It’s a fantastic success story for our universities. And we are really delighted that so many Nigerians are coming to the UK,” he said.
The British High Commissioner noted that his meeting with the Shettima focused on the current policy direction of the Bola Tinubu administration, which, he said, is being warmly received by UK investors.
He said: “As I discussed with His Excellency, the big economic decisions being taken by this government are really important and are being noticed around the world: the removal of subsidy, the exchange rate reform, all of that create a much better investment environment.
“I was in London last week; I was briefing my ministers, but I was also talking to British business in finance, banking and investment sectors. They are all responding very positively to these first decisions.”
He said the discussions also highlighted areas of assistance by the British government to cushion the effects of the discontinuance of petroleum subsidy, which has spelt “tough times” for Nigerians.
The British Envoy further remarked: “We know that there are tough times that are going on at the moment, inflation and unemployment.
“The vice president and I also touched on some of the measures that might be possible to cushion the blow of some of these economic pressures.
“But I think the big issue is that these reforms help put Nigeria on a higher growth path; they will attract more investments and the United Kingdom and the city of London see Nigeria as a big opportunity going forward. I will be doing my part to try to boost those, enhance trade and investment.”
