The Government’s plans to curb the number of foreign students arriving in the UK are in doubt after receiving major pushback from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, i understands.
Mr Hunt is understood to be resisting the Home Secretary’s plans to limit the number of dependents that foreign students can bring with them to the UK, arguing that doing so would inflict major damage on the British economy.
Ms Braverman said last year that she would look at clamping down on international students after net migration reached a record high of 504,000 in the year to June.
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that nearly 40 per cent of the 704,000 non-EU nationals that came to the UK in the year to June arrived on study visas.
i understands that there are no plans to introduce a “cap” on the number of foreign students per se, but that Ms Braverman is working with No 10 to draw up measures to deter some international students from applying to UK universities.
