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Non-essential US embassy staff and their dependants in Baghdad are evacuating from Iraq due to heightened security risks, US government sources said on Wednesday.

Since January 2024, international postgraduate students have not been able to bring dependants unless their course is a research programme.

Rules will also be laid out for adult dependants, meaning that they will have to demonstrate a basic understanding of the language.

Applications for Health and Care Worker visas peaked at 18,300 in August 2023, then collapsed to 1,700 by April this year following the ban on bringing dependants.

The previous Conservative government increased the minimum salary for skilled overseas workers wanting to come to the UK from £26,200 to £38,700 and banned care workers from bringing family dependants to the UK.