Official national statistics give us a glimpse of students emigrating from the UK while the number of dependents in the country doubles.
There was a surge in the number of students arriving in the UK after the lockdown restrictions were lifted in 2021. However, the latest analysis reveals that students are beginning to leave the country. Somewhere around 153,000 students who arrived in the UK on study visas will have left the country in 2022.
The reports from ONS stated that “with the increase in immigration of those study-related visas in the last two years, we are now seeing an emigration as those students come to an end in their studies.” A spokesperson from the UK’s university reveals that most of the students stay in the country only on a temporary basis. He added that there is an overall small share of non-EU migrants in the UK.
The statistics have changed in recent years, with 361,000 students coming to the UK on study visas in 2022. The number of students that arrived in 2021 was 301,000. The surge in the number of students is mainly due to the dependents that are accompanying students. As per the latest trends, there is an increase in dependents, from 41,000 in 2021 to 85,000 in 2022.
According to the Home Office, 22% of all sponsored study visas are granted to dependents accompanying the student. After analysing the entire situation, the UK government has decided to ban dependents. Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick considers this measure to have a “tangible effect”.
Around 30% of the visas are granted to Indian nationals, followed by China and Nigeria. Due to the immigration of students and their dependents, the country has seen an increase in its overall population of 606,000 in 2022.
