Kazeem Owoseni
The British Deputy High Commissioner in Lagos, Jonny Baxton, has revealed that the UK policy change on dependents was due to the high influx of immigrants into the country.
Baxton who stated this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria during a recent interview, revealed that the United Kingdom issued approximately 132,000 visas to Nigerians during the first half of 2023.
The UK envoy who could not provide instantaneous statistics regarding the total number of visa applications received from Nigerians during the first half of the year, said the case is not peculiar to Nigerians, noting it is a general trend around the world.
“In the first half of this year, we approved around 132,000 visas, and those are all sorts of visas which include visit, work and study visas.
“If you think about Nigeria’s population, relative to the world, that’s a higher proportion of Nigerians taking up those visas and coming to the UK which I view is a good thing.
“The UK has a huge number of Nigerian students in the country, and in terms of foreign students in the UK, Nigeria is second only to India.
“We welcome and value the many Nigerians that we have to come to the UK to study or settle, as long as they are coming through legal routes, and the country’s rules must be followed and respected,” Baxton said.
Speaking on the UK’s policy change in students bringing dependants into the country, the envoy restated that changes in the rules regarding students bringing dependents were propelled by international challenges.
“In 2019, Nigerian students going to the UK brought in 1,500 dependents.
“By 2022/2023, that number has risen to 52,000 dependants, that’s a massive increase.
“Nigeria is not unique, as it has happened for many other countries and indeed, this change on the dependants is an international challenge,” he added.
Baxton however acknowledged that it was understandable that the UK, being impacted by this influx of individuals, would review, and amend its policies, to control the trend.
“It is not surprising that a country, Britain in this case, that is facing that kind of change to the numbers of people coming into the country, wants to look at the policy and would want to change and amend their policy.
“This is not a case of saying that we don’t want students to come, we definitely want students still to come, and the new policy would come in in January 2024,” he explained.
The Deputy High Commissioner who also spoke about the surge in cost of the UK visa, clarified that the United Kingdom reviews its visa fees regularly, to cover the costs associated with visa processing.
He noted that some visa fees contribute to covering the costs of services that certain visa holders may require while in the UK.
“What the British government has decided to do is they review fees all the time, and they’ve decided that because of the cost of processing visas, those costs that people applying for visas need to pay should go up as well.
“The other thing that I think is probably not often recognised is that, for some of those people who are going to the UK and are in some limited circumstances, those people will access services when they are in the UK and those services cost money.
“So, part of the money out of the fees in the visa process will be to pay for those services that in certain circumstances, some people may need to access when they’re there. So, for me, that’s an entirely justifiable thing.
“But I completely understand it is important for us to explain it so people understand the reasons for the increment,” he said.
Baxter however advised the intended visa applicant to apply for visas, in advance of their planned travel dates, calling attention to the existence of specific processes and timeframes for visa issuance.
