International students who come to the UK will no longer be able to bring family with them except under specific circumstances in a government bid to bring immigration down.
International students will no longer be able to bring dependants with them unless they are on postgraduate courses that are currently designated as research programmes.
The package will also remove the ability for international students to switch out of the student route and into work routes before their studies have been completed "to prevent misuse of the visa system", the government said.
As well as removing this right, there will also be a review of the maintenance requirement for students and dependents and a crackdown on "unscrupulous" education agents "who make use of inappropriate applications to sell immigration, not education".
The changes will come into effect for students starting their courses from January 2024 in order to allow future international students time to plan ahead.
In the year ending December 2022, 486,000 student visas were issued to applicants - up from 269,000 in 2019.
