Foreign students studying for most masters degrees will no longer be able to bring family members to the UK, under an immigration clampdown.
The announcement has been made two days before official statistics are expected to show legal migration has hit a record 700,000 this year.
Last year, 135,788 visas were granted to dependants of foreign students – almost nine times the figure for 2019.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently said legal migration was too high.
Last week, he said ministers were “considering a range of options” to bring migration down, but refused to put a precise figure on future acceptable levels.
The Conservatives have previously promised to bring net migration below 100,000 a year, but ditched the target ahead of the 2019 election after repeatedly failing to meet it.
Under the latest announcement, partners and children of graduate students other than those studying on courses designated as research programmes will no longer be allowed to apply to live in the UK…
This article was written by and originally published on www.bbc.co.uk