Richard Montgomery, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, has given reasons why the UK government banned international students from bringing family members with them.

The new policy which will be in full force by January 2024, will stop Nigerians and other foreign nationals on study visa to the United Kingdom from bringing in their family members.

The new policy is said to be part of the British Government's move to curb migration.

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Richard Montgomery arising from a closed door meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima at the Presidential Villa, Abuja said the new policy was done to reduce pressure on the UK's housing infrastructure and to control the inflow of migrants.

In his words:

“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 our existing student population…we’ll have to manage our migration in and out of the UK"

The UK Home Office had earlier announced that International students, including Nigerians, would be stopped from switching from the student visa route to a work visa until their studies had been completed.

While fielding questions from State House Correspondents, Montgomery explained 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.

“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,” he added.

The British High Commissioner revealed that the number of Nigerian students in the UK had increased fivefold 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.