The United Kingdom, UK, is looking at tightening the rules on the number of relatives that migrants can bring into the UK.
According to Daily Mail, UK, statistics show that Nigerian migrants bring the highest number of dependents into the UK when compared to other groups of migrants. As a result, it was gathered that the UK Home secretary, Suella Braverman, is considering tightening the rules on migration with dependants.
This is coming after Home Office immigration figures showed inconsistency across different nationalities migrating to the UK to work and study. From their reports, it is seen that Nigerians have 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 during the period.
It has also been revealed that 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.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘[This] is the highest on record in our time series, with the substantial increase representing both a recovery from lower numbers during the Covid-19 pandemic but also an increase on the pre-pandemic period.’
Story: Ene Ken-Yawe