The education spokesperson of the Scottish National Party (SNP), Carol Monaghan has condemned the UK’s new immigration policy, which bans foreign students from bringing families with them to the UK from 2024.
Recall that UK Home Office, on Tuesday, also announced that foreign students would be stopped from switching from the student visa route to a work visa until their studies have been completed.
Reacting to the immigration policy, Monaghan said the students and their families have made valuable contributions to the UK, contributing £40 billion to the economy in 2022.
According to the UK lawmaker, the international students enrich the UK society as they have skills, which have proved useful across key sectors.
Monaghan said the UK is deprived of workers across key sectors and foreign students enrich the society with skills proven to be vital in the post-Brexit climate.
“With labour shortages in healthcare, STEM, IT, to name a few, how can the minister fail to recognise that this policy will aggravate these? I’d like to ask the minister, what assessments have been carried out on the economic impact of this change on the university sector?
“The reality is that many students who come into the UK look beyond their studies and want their families to be part of their experience.
“Without a way for overseas students to bring their families, many will opt to go elsewhere and any drop in international students numbers will cause further harm to universities that are already facing financial difficulties.”
Meanwhile, universities in the UK also kicked against the country’s new immigration policy.
The Universities UK International (UUK), a body of universities, had said the move was a threat to the country’s global success as a top destination for international talent.
The Director, UUK, Jamie Arrowsmith said, “International students make an invaluable contribution to our universities and to the UK’s economy. Building on the government’s explicit commitments and ambitions, which were clearly set out in the international education strategy, we have seen significant growth since 2019.”
