Connect with us

News

Nigerian migrants bring most relatives, UK govt says, considers tougher visa rules

Published

on

 

The United Kingdom is considering tightening the rules on how many relatives migrants can bring into the country.

 

Nigeria was mentioned after it was discovered that it has the highest number of dependants compared to other groups of migrants.

 

According to the Times UK, UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman said the government was considering tightening the rules on dependants after Home Office immigration figures showed a “surprising inconsistency” across different nationalities coming to the UK to work and study.

 

Based on the Home Office report, Nigerians accounted for 40% of all dependants who accompanied foreign students in the 12 months to June 2022- despite Nigerian students making up just 7% of all foreign students in that period.

Read also:Nigerian migrants are not my concern, Buhari tells German Chancellor Merkel

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.

 

By comparison, 114,837 Chinese students who came to the UK last year brought with them a total of 401 dependants – while 93,049 Indian students came to Britain with  24,916 dependants, the figures show.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now