Rishi Sunak said the crackdown on migration was not directed at immigrants. Credit: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images
Rishi Sunak warns Wednesday that «uncontrolled» legal migration risks uncontrolled pressure on housing, schools and hospitals.
In an exclusive op-ed for The Telegraph, the PM stated that he was committed to fighting legal migration because when it was «too high and too fast» it was difficult for newcomers to integrate into society.
On Tuesday, the government announced that all international students, with the exception of those in postgraduate studies, will be banned from bringing family members to the UK from January. 2024, which could reduce net migration by as much as 150,000 people.
Data released on Thursday by the Office for National Statistics is expected to show that net migration — the number of people entering minus those leaving — will reach a record high of 700,000 to one million in 2022. That's more than 504,000 this year through June 2022 and almost triple the pre-Brexit level.
In his article, Mr. Sunak said the crackdown on migration was not anti-immigrant. He said the charge should not be brought against the UK given its «rich history» of accepting refugees such as 174,000 Ukrainians.
But he said there could be no «uncontrolled legal migration» in Britain. This is unfair. This is putting unmanageable pressure on housing, schools and hospitals in many of our communities. And when it's too high and too fast, it can be difficult for communities to integrate newcomers,” he said.
Vow to close loopholes
Mr Sunak said the UK remains committed to its goal of 600,000 students , but this cannot be achieved at the expense of the government's promise to reduce net migration.
On Tuesday, ministers acknowledged that net migration would only decline until 2019. levels in the «medium term» that the Ministry of the Interior sets between 18 months and five years.
This means that the government is likely to go to the next elections, which are expected in 2024, without fulfilling their Manifesto 2019 Mr. Sunak has vowed to close the loopholes that led to a 'staggering' eightfold increase in the number of dependents brought to the UK by international students from 16,000 to 135,788 since 2019.
From January 2024, only students pursuing a doctoral or master's degree related to research can bring dependents to the UK. This will deprive nearly nine out of ten (88%) of all international PhD students of the right to bring family members.
The Prime Minister vowed to crack down on «unscrupulous agents of international students» who are accused of fueling the boom by promoting «inappropriate » applications as an immigration path, not education.
He accused some institutions of «selling immigration, not education» as he anticipated plans that graduate students from top universities would be allowed to bring family members, while graduate students from lower ranked universities would not.
Prohibition on obtaining work visas
“We will also try to explore … a system that differentiates the quality of institutions so that over time we can allow our very best and brightest students to bring some dependents while studying at our universities, preventing institutions from selling immigration and not education. ,» he said.
As part of the crackdown, students will be barred from switching to work visas before they graduate, to prevent them from using university courses as a bypass to the UK. employment.
There will also be a review that may increase the level of income required for international students for themselves and their dependents. Ministers plan to tighten immigration enforcement for students and skilled workers and improve their awareness.
In a written statement, Home Secretary Suella Braverman said: “This package strikes the right balance between strong action to combat net migration and protect economic benefits that students can bring to the UK. Now is the time to make these changes to impact the net migration as soon as possible.”
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