The number of international students who intend to take family members with them when they study in the UK has dropped by 79 per cent in the first quarter of this year, according to the latest Home Office figures.

The statistics show that visa applications across key routes have fallen by a quarter in the first four months of 2024.

However, the number of skilled worker visa applications has risen by 41 per cent over the same period.

The figures also show that applications from skilled worker dependents have gone up by 62 per cent over the first quarter.

Applications from skilled health and care workers were down in the first quarter by 76 per cent.

However, applications from dependents in the health and care sector only fell by 6 per cent.

Government measures to tighten student visas came into force in January and prevent most students from bringing family members with them to the UK.

The changes also prevent students from switching their visas before completing their course, to help cut down on those using the route as a backdoor to work in the UK.

There were more than 30,000 fewer student visa applications made between January and April 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

The Government decided to bring forward the publication of its visa figures to now come before the publication of the Office for National Statistics net migration stats for the year ending December 2023.

A Home Office source said the ONS figures “will not take into account the major package measures announced in December which have already started to have an effect.”

Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “The plan to cut deliver the largest-ever cut to legal migration in our country’s history is working.

“This monthly data is the most up-to-date picture of visa levels, showing that on current trajectories legal migration continues to fall across key routes.

“The British people deserve an immigration system that puts their interests first.

“Our approach is about control and fairness; to the highly skilled coming here who deserve a decent wage, to taxpayers who shouldn’t be relied on to support them, and to British workers who shouldn’t be undercut.”