UK Government Says Nigerian Students’ Dependents Highest Than Any Country, Tightens Rules on Student Visa
- The UK government has stated that Nigeria has the highest number of student dependents in the country
- New data released by the government stated that Nigeria has about 51,648 student dependents as of September 2022
- Nigeria is followed by India with 33, 239 and stated that Nigerian students in the UK contributed about 1,93 billion to the UK economy
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The United Kingdom government has released the number of Nigerian students and their dependents in the country.
The country said dependents of Nigerian students in the UK have ballooned by 3,156 per cent to 51,648 in September 2022.
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Nigeria and India has highest students' dependents in UK
The number is up from 1,586 in 2019, according to new immigration data.
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The data released by the UK government on Thursday, November 24, 2022, says Nigeria has the highest number of dependents, followed by Indian nationals at 33,239 from 3,135.
According to the record, Nigeria saw a significant increase in the proportion of visa holders who were dependents, from 19 per cent in 2019 to September 2022.
Indian nationals also saw a spike in their dependent proportion from eight per cent to 21 per cent.
Per the report, visas issued for the top nationalities for sponsored dependents comprising Nigeria, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were over 100,000 for the period under review.
The data also stated that after Indians, Nigeria saw the most significant increase in sponsored study visas of 44,162, about 650 per cent to 50,960.
UK government tightens rules on student visa
A report said that the UK government was considering tightening visa rules on how many relatives migrants can bring into the country, a development that might affect Nigeria.
BusinessDay said Suella Braveman and the former UK Home Secretary said too many students were coming into the UK and needed trimming.
Nigeria’s enormous, cheap labour and intelligent minds are attracted to the UK, which suffers from an ageing population and labour shortage.
Nigerians contribute to UK economy
Recent data said that Nigerian students and their dependents contributed about 1.93 billion to the UK in 2021.
The report’s breakdown shows that for the 1.93 billion pounds, the students spent 680.6 million pounds on tuition.
It is followed by 408.4 million pounds for rent, 151.3 million pounds for national insurance, 54.4 million pounds for tax on working spouses, 41.8 million pounds for National Health Service and 41.7 million for visa fees.
UK Government considering ban on Nigerian students, others to curb rising migration numbers
Legit.ng reported that the United Kingdom government is working at ensuring student migrants from Nigeria, and other countries only apply to its top universities.
The Times UK reports that foreign students may be barred from Britain unless they win a place at a top university.
UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who was quoted in the report, revealed the plans as the number of immigrants has crossed over 1.1 million.
Source: Legit.ng
