Suella Braverman’s student visa curbs could cause long term damage to UK’s economy – Greg Wright

In this context, we are right to be alarmed by a significant tightening of immigration rules, which will prevent overseas students bringing tens of thousands of dependants to the UK. The package, announced ahead of figures which are expected to show net migration running at record levels, amounts to the “single biggest tightening measure a government has ever done”, according to Downing Street.

Some 136,000 visas were granted to dependants of sponsored students in 2022, an increase from 16,000 in 2019 when the Tory election manifesto committed the party to reducing net migration.

The new restrictions are set to apply to overseas students beginning courses after January 2024. They will ban overseas students, apart from postgraduates on research programmes, from obtaining visas for their dependants. Home Secretary Suella Braverman argued that the package strikes the right balance between acting decisively on tackling net migration and protecting the economic benefits that students can bring to the UK.

However, Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute (Hepi) think tank, was unimpressed.

He said: “This is not a wise move because every part of the UK benefits from the presence of international students and, if they are discouraged from coming to the UK, they won’t stay at home but instead go to our competitors. Given that international student fees subsidise the teaching of home students as well as UK research, I hope the Home Secretary will now be lobbying the Chancellor to help universities recoup their losses.”

Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, has called on the Government to limit the impact of changes to the immigration rules on universities which are already under “serious financial pressures”.

He added that the changes to rules on dependants are likely to have a “disproportionate impact on women and students from certain countries”.

“Anything that threatens to affect the UK’s global success as a top destination for international talent needs to be considered very carefully,” Mr Arrowsmith said.

Ministers are struggling to balance their political commitment to reduce net migration with the economic need of businesses to find staff to fill vacancies. This latest move could backfire badly. If the UK becomes less attractive to foreign students, they will simply take their talents elsewhere.

Students supported by their families are more likely to settle in the UK and, over time, become valued employees or business owners. There is no virtue in slashing net migration if we harm our own economic prospects in the process.

Greg Wright is the deputy business editor of The Yorkshire Post