'Stop the boats, not families': PM Rishi Sunak faces flak for barring foreign students from taking families to UK

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday faced massive criticism after he said that the majority of foreign university students cannot bring their family members to the UK from January 1, 2024. 

In July last year, the Sunak government changed the Immigration Rules under which international students studying in the UK were barred from bringing dependants on their Student Visa. These changes came into effect from today, January 1, 2024.

Also read: 'Foreign students won't be able to take family members to UK': PM Rishi Sunak's first 2024 announcement

The UK's Home Office in a tweet said that it was fully committed to seeing a decisive cut in migration. "From today, new overseas students will no longer be able to bring family members to the UK," it said, adding that postgraduate research or government-funded scholarships students will be exempted.  

The post was reshared by Sunak. However, the Conservative Party leader's post did not go down well with a section of people, who asked the prime minister to stop the illegal migration, not the families of international students.

"Channel this energy towards illegal migration, not international students and you are more likely to succeed," said Dr. Victor Udeozor, a senior lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Victor said this policy will change within three years. "International student numbers will drop drastically, university funding will be affected significantly, and they will lobby (bribe) MPs to push a U-turn. 3 years!"

Benjamin Jones, another social media user, said that Sunak's approach was flawed and he was simply ticking a box. "Those coming for world-class education (and can afford it) are more likely to assimilate. Stop selecting easy-to-implement targets," Jones said. "Tackle sources where illegal migration is occurring. Legal migration is not the problem."

The Conservative Party, which had promised to cut down illegal migration in its previous manifesto, is under pressure to act as only less than a year is left before the next general election. 

Just two months ago, Suella Braverman resigned as UK's Home Secretary, saying Sunak had failed to deliver on the party's key promises such as reducing illegal migration and taking measures to stop small boats crossing the channel.    

A climate activist said that the students will now start looking elsewhere – to America or Europe. "The UK, seemingly closed for business and foreign students, is on a slow decline and losing its relevance."

Don McGowan, another social media user, said that the decision will cost countless millions in GDP, push foreign students to other countries, and decimate the university sector - a sector that Britain has been leading in for hundreds of years.

Olumese Hilary said it was a poor decision. "Overseas students bring billions of pounds to the UK economy and have helped universities in plugging the funding gap. Would it not have been better to make the conditions more stringent rather than a blanket ban?"

Another person said that her dad is a university lecturer and when he heard this news, he was deeply concerned. "Not only cos this is immoral, but also cos it will make unis go bust. Unis are dependent on foreign students and get a lot of money from them. If this is successful, unis will go bankrupt or close to it."

A visual artist and writer said that students were an easy and misplaced target. He said he graduated in 2015 and in his MA class, at least three people were international students (2 from the US and 1 from Germany) who brought their partners and children with them and who also contributed to the UK economy whilst living there.

While many questioned Sunak, some also backed him and asked him to stop illegal migration. "Stop the boats and start a mass deportation/repatriation programme. No uni students should have the right to bring their families here but this isn’t the major issue. Illegals and terrorist sympathisers need to be removed…urgently," said a social media user.