The British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery, has explained that the UK’s decision to ban international students from bringing family members from 2024, is to control the inflow of migrants and avoid overburdening the country’s housing infrastructure.
Montgomery stated this while speaking to State House Correspondents after he emerged from 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 meet all the needs of all our existing student population…we’ll have to manage our migration in and out of the UK,” he said.
Wednesday’s meeting comes one month after the new British diplomat to Nigeria handed his letters of Credence to former President Muhammadu Buhari on May 18.
On May 23, the UK Home Office said 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.
The decision has been greeted with mixed reactions from international students, schools, and some British lawmakers who argued that the regulation would aggravate labour shortages in critical sectors such as healthcare and threaten the country’s global standing as a top destination for international talent.
But in response to a question from our correspondent, the British High Commissioner gave reasons for the regulation saying, “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.”