International students who come to study in the UK will no longer be able to bring family with them except under specific circumstances in a government bid to bring immigration down.

International students will no longer be able to bring dependants with them unless they are on postgraduate courses that are currently designated as research programmes.

The package will remove the ability for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed.

As well as removing this right, there will also be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on “unscrupulous” education providers “who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education”.

The changes will come into effect for students starting their courses from January 2024 in order to allow future international students time to plan ahead.

The government has come under pressure over migration figures.

Official statistics due to be published later this week are expected to show that net migration has increased from 504,000 in the 12 months to June 2022 to more than 700,000 in the year to December.

A Downing Street spokesperson said: “The prime minister reiterated his commitment to getting the numbers down and said the statistics showed a recent rise in the number of dependents coming to the UK alongside international students. Around 136,000 visas were granted to dependents in 2022 – an eightfold increase from 2019.”

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