The United Kingdom government has announced a ban on international health workers and carers from bringing their dependents to the country on work visas.
The decision was announced in a statement on Monday as part of the UK’s effort to cut migration.
James Cleverly, the Secretary of State for the Home Department, shared the announcement through a statement on the Home Office X account.
He tweeted, “From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependants.”
A graphic information post on the Home Office X account stressed the ban, stating, “Banned: Overseas care workers from bringing dependants. 120,000 people who arrived last year would no longer be eligible under our new rules.”
The UK government attributes this decision to the economic challenges facing the country, which Chancellor Rishi Sunak has been working to address.
This move follows a similar one earlier this year, when the UK prohibited international students from bringing their families to the country.
Meanwhile, News About Nigeria reported in February that the United Kingdom’s (UK) economy officially entered a recession after recording two successive quarters of negative economic growth in the second half of the previous year, according to official data released on Thursday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a contraction of 0.3% in gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2023, following a 0.1% contraction in the previous three months, meeting the technical definition of a recession.
The decline was attributed to elevated inflation and a cost-of-living crisis that impacted various sectors of the economy.
The ONS said that all main sectors, including manufacturing, construction, and wholesale, shrank in the fourth quarter, contributing to the negative growth.
