Richard Montgomery, the British high commissioner to Nigeria has revealed why the United Kingdom banned dependent visas for Nigerians and other international Students.

It was announced weeks ago that by January 2024, Nigerians and other foreign nationals on study visas to the United Kingdom will no longer be able to bring in their family members, a new policy rolled out by the British Government to curb migration.

According to Montgomery, the decision is to avoid pressure on the country’s housing infrastructure and to control the inflow of migrants.

“Many more students are trying to bring their dependents with them. but it’s not always possible to find the housing and services to meet all the needs of our existing student population.

We’ll have to manage our migration in and out of the UK,” Montgomery revealed shortly after he emerged from a closed-door meeting with Vice President Kashim Shettima, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja”.

Montgomery disclosed that the number of Nigerian students in the UK had increased fivefold in the last three years, even as they make up 10 percent of those granted UK visas annually.

“That issue was not raised in the meeting (with the Vice President) just now. But I would like to put the media debate about it in a broader context. Last year (2022), for example, the UK granted three million new visas, of which 325,000 were to Nigerians.

“Nigerian visitors constitute over 10 percent of the people coming to London and the UK.

“It’s a fantastic success story for our universities. And we are really delighted that so many Nigerians are coming to the UK,” he said.

The British High Commissioner revealed that his discussions with Shettima highlighted the current policy direction of the Bola Tinubu administration, which, he said, is being warmly received by UK investors.

“As I discussed with His Excellency, the big economic decisions being taken by this government are really important and are being noticed around the world: the removal of subsidy, the exchange rate reform, all of that create a much better investment environment.

“I was in London last week; I was briefing my ministers, but I was also talking to British business in finance, banking, and investment sectors. They are all responding very positively to these first decisions,” Montgomery stated.

He further said their discussions also featured areas of assistance by the British government to cushion the effects of the discontinuance of petroleum subsidy, which has spelled “tough times,” for Nigerians.

“We know that there are tough times going on at the moment, inflation and unemployment.

“The vice president and I also touched on some of the measures that might be possible to cushion the blow of some of these economic pressures.

“But I think the big issue is that these reforms help put Nigeria on a higher growth path; they will attract more investments and the United Kingdom and the city of London see Nigeria as a big opportunity going forward. I will be doing my part to try to boost those, enhance trade and investment,” he said.