UK's immigration clampdown deters Indian students but consultants hopeful of demand recovery

Last month, the British government said in the first quarter of 2024, dependent applications on the health and care visa continued to significantly outnumber main applicants.

As the United Kingdom starts implementing stricter measures to curb immigration, study-abroad consultants are anticipating a rapid dip in interest from Indian students.

However, at the same time, they are confident that the trend might recover as students adjust to the new changes.

From January 1, 2024, international students studying in the UK are not allowed to bring dependents with them on their student visa, except those in research postgraduate programmes.

Gresham Global said the ban on dependents is anticipated to result in a 15-18 percent drop in the enrollment of Indian students for the September 2024 intake.

“Concurrently, there is an ongoing evaluation of the Graduate Immigration Route, also known as the 2-year Post Study Work visa. While the UK government is yet to announce any alterations to this program, universities in the UK are observing a slowdown in enrollment numbers ranging from 20-32 percent compared to the same period last year,” Jasminder Khanna, Co-Founder of Gresham Global told Moneycontrol.

The measures

The measures to tighten student visas, which came into force in January, have already prevented most international students starting courses this year from bringing family members.

The number of dependents accompanying students to the UK has plunged almost 80 percent, with over 26,000 fewer student visa applications made from January to March compared to the same period in 2023, the UK government has said.

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Last month, the British government had said in the first quarter of 2024, dependent applications for health and care visas continued to significantly outnumber main applicants for student visas. The final measure in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Home Secretary James Cleverly’s package to reduce legal migration raises the minimum income required to sponsor someone coming to the UK on a family visa from £18,600 to £29,000, an uptick of more than 55 percent.

By early 2025, it will rise to £38,700 to meet the new salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa.

Further, students can also no longer switch their visa before completing their course, preventing people from using the route as a "backdoor to work in the UK, while clamping down on institutions which undermine the UK’s reputation by selling immigration not education", the government has said in a statement.

Consultants hopeful

However, other consultants feel the recent immigration control measures are seasonal and short-lived.

While recent shifts in UK immigration policies may have implications and temporarily deter some Indian students, especially those with dependents, from exploring the UK as an option, accommodation provider University Living is confident in the inherent value of the UK as an education destination.

“Despite the overall decline of 10-15 percent observed in student enrolment….for the quarter-on-quarter December 2023-April 2024 from the previous year, University Living has demonstrated commendable resilience with a decrease of only 8.46 percent,” said Saurabh Arora, CEO of University Living.

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Still a popular destination

Despite such restrictions, the UK remains one of the most popular study-abroad destinations for some consultants. invest4Edu saw an uptick of about 20 percent from Q3 to Q4 in 2023-24 for UG programs.

“New overseas destinations in the EU and Asia are trying to catch up to the major players in the study-abroad sphere such as the USA, Canada, and the UK. But it does not mean that these countries are losing the allure….The UK aims to bring down the number of immigrants but it will affect mostly low-skill jobs. Indian students mostly go to the UK to enhance the already in-demand skills,” said Rozy Efzal, Co Founder & Director of Invest4edu.