Philip Trott tells LBC Radio that curbing international postgraduates’ family is a ‘knee-jerk reaction’ to UK immigration stats

28 May 2023

Vanessa Ganguin Immigration Law Senior Counsel Philip Trott told LBC radio this week that the UK Government’s proposals to curb non-research international postgraduates from bringing dependant family to the UK during their student visas are “a knee-jerk reaction” to UK immigration figures.

The announcement was made ahead of the Office of National Statistics reporting a record high net UK migration of 606,000 in 2022. According to Downing Street, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told his cabinet that the proposal to limit student dependants coming to the UK set to begin in January 2024 would make a “significant difference to the numbers.”

But Philip Trott told LBC’s Ben Kentish the move was “a knee jerk reaction” to migration figures that were uncharacteristically high after the Ukraine Schemes and Hong Kong BN(O) scheme had been opened for people fleeing war and repression. Philip also explained that UK immigration figures had now peaked and were coming down again and explained that the majority of Skilled Worker visas were granted for 53,000 nurses and 35,000 care workers to meet high current healthcare staff shortages.

Philip Trott warned that the annual £42 billion economic benefit of students coming to the UK from overseas was being put at risk by the Prime Minister’s proposal to stop dependants accompanying certain postgrads, when in other countries such as the United States, Canada and Australia “dependants can come in without restriction.”

You can hear the short clip here:

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