In an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, the British High Commissioner to Nigeria, Richard Montgomery stated that about 325,000 of the 3 million new UK Visas granted in 2022 were awarded to Nigerians.
Montgomery noted that in 2022, “The UK granted three million new UK visas of various types, including students and other visitors.
“Nigerians alone received 325,000 of those three million visas. So more than 10 per cent of the visas from the UK are to Nigerian citizens which is fantastic.
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“It goes back to the fact that the UK and Nigeria have strong people-to-people links.” He added.
British also spoke on the UK government’s new visa policy that restricts foreign student visas. The new policy will block foreign students from bringing along their family members starting in January 2024.
According to Montgomery, the new policy is targeted at effectively addressing the strain on social services for scholars. He added that it is not intended to discourage Nigerian students from studying in the UK. He encouraged Nigerians to view the new visa rules in the UK from a broader perspective, emphasizing that it is a beneficial development for both Nigeria and the United Kingdom.
He mentioned that currently, Nigerians who wish to study in the UK have a high visa approval rate of 97%. Montgomery noted,
“Three years ago, there were 20,000 Nigerian students in British higher education institutions, and last year, the number increased to 127,000. So, we had a five-fold increase in the number of students from Nigeria coming to UK universities. We are delighted that UK universities continue to attract the best and brightest from Nigeria.”
Montgomery also clarified some information about the new visa policy. He noted that the visa restriction on bringing dependents only affects people who are doing non-research undergraduate degrees or a one-year master’s degree programme. He explained that the policy was necessitated by the significant increase in the number of people coming into the UK from across the world, including Nigeria.
He noted, “We have had a very significant rise in the number of people coming from all around the world, not just from Nigeria. This has caused some strain on the UK.
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“Sometimes it is difficult to find good accommodation as a student and there is real pressure on housing and social services for students.
“If you looked at it three years ago, only 1,500 dependents of students were coming to the UK from Nigeria, but now it was 52,000 last year. I am just trying to put it in proper context, that this is an adjustment.
“The words that are being used in the media to describe the situation are misrepresenting. We are making an adjustment that enables us to manage the demands on services in university towns and elsewhere.”
