Derry international students and care home workers call for British govt. to rethink family ban

British Home Secretary Suella Braverman has announced that from January only those on postgraduate research courses will be able to bring dependants.

She says the move will help curb net migration. But the decision has been slammed as “deeply shameful” and universities say it will disproportionately impact women and people from countries like Nigeria and India.

Adamma Antonia Odumukwu and husband Kenneth are from Nigeria. They arrived in Derry on October 5 last year and Adamma is studying for a degree in International Business with Data Analytics in Advanced Practice.

Due to their circumstances the couple had to leave their children, Daniel and David, behind. It was only last month that they were able to bring the boys over to be with them.

“The last nine months have not been easy,” said Kenneth.

“When we came in October, the children stayed with my wife’s mother. It was very traumatic for us to leave them because we come from a culture where the family unit is so cherished. It was not an easy thing for us to do at all.”

Kenneth said that in African culture, it was almost unheard of for a married woman to travel overseas to study alone, but that fact does not seem to have been taken into consideration by the UK Government.

Adamma and Kenneth are both employed locally as care workers, a sector that has struggled for years to attract staff. They both contribute financially to the local economy through their taxes and rates.

“The UK Government needs to rethink this idea because international students contribute so much,” said Kenneth.

“Between 2021 and 2022 they put £42 billion into the economy. If they stop that then it is going to impact on a lot of people.

“From the point of view of students in my country, they would love to come here because the UK has the reputation for being the best place to study.

“But if this legislation is passed they will look at different options and different countries.”

Adamma and Kenneth were among the respondents to a fact finding exercise carried out by the North West Migrants Forum on how the new legislation will impact international students.

Another respondent was Ifeanyi Ejifor.

Also from Nigeria, Ifeanyi has been studying for his Masters in Data Science at Ulster University’s Magee campus since January. Outside of college he too works in a local care facility.

He hopes to bring his wife and two children to Derry before the January cut-off date.

Being without them has been a struggle, he said.

“Without my family I am not complete. When I talk to my kids they ask ‘Daddy, where are you’ and ‘Daddy when will you come?’ It is very hard and I know that if I have them here I will be more energised, more confident.

“When you are without your family you are not emotionally stable, it impacts on your mental health.”

Ifeanyi said he found Suella Braverman’s plan “strange”, given the amount international students contribute financially.

“We are not a liability, we pay a lot to come here. We are paying for education, it is not something we are getting for free.

“For example my school fees are £15,000. I also pay for insurance, visa and so on. So for me it is about £18,000 to study here.

“In 2022 international students contributed over £40 billion in school fees. Just imagine what that is doing for the UK economy.”

As to what will happen should Suella Braverman push ahead with her plans, Ifeanyi Ejifor said students would look to EU countries or Canada.

He added that it was particularly galling that the Conservative Government was planning to lock out students from Nigeria when the west African country was a British colony for 60 years.

“We were colonised by Britain, as were many African countries. We are a Commonwealth nation and English is our general language. So I find it funny that they won’t let us come and stay in the UK.”

The North West Migrants Forum is still inviting students to contact them on how they will be affected by the new rules.

The Migrants Forum’s Director of Programmes, Lilian Seenoi Barr, said: “There are 370 international students in Derry, many of whom have taken up roles in professions which are experiencing a shortage of workers.

“Those sectors will be directly impacted should this ill-thought-out piece of legislation become a reality.

“The North West Migrants Forum is campaigning against it and will be writing to the immigration minister and the home secretary to voice our opposition directly.”

Making the proposal announcement back in May, the British government claimed the new restrictions to student visa routes will ‘substantially cut net migration by restricting the ability for international students to bring family members on all but post-graduate research routes’.

UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman claimed: "The UK is a top destination for the brightest students to learn at some of the world’s best universities. But we have seen an unprecedented rise in the number of student dependents being brought into the country with visas.

"It is time for us to tighten up this route to ensure we can cut migration numbers and meet the government’s pledge to the British people to cut net migration. This is the fair thing to do to allow us to better protect our public services, while supporting the economy by allowing the students who contribute the most to keep coming here.”