By The United Kingdom has issued warning to international students, instructing them to leave the country once their visa expires or risk forced removal.
According to BBC, the Home Office has begun directly contacting tens of thousands of students via text and email as part of a new campaign to tackle what it describes as an “alarming” rise in student visa holders seeking to remain in the UK by claiming asylum.
This message has gone out to about 10,000 students whose visas are nearing expiry, informed recipients that those without legal right to remain in the United Kingdom must leave or face removal. A further 130,000 students and their families are expected to be contacted in the coming months, coinciding with the autumn intake period.
Home Office data indicates that last year, around 15 per cent of asylum applications, roughly 16,000 cases were submitted by individuals who had originally entered the country on student visas. Although the figures do not specify how many were lodged after visas had expired, officials maintain that the trend is evident enough to warrant immediate intervention.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper explained that some students were seeking asylum despite no change in circumstances in their home countries. She emphasised that while the government would continue to support genuine refugees, the asylum system was not intended to be used as an extension of student visas.
Officials says the increase in applications from students and other legal entrants is adding to the strain on the already stretched asylum accommodation, including the use of hotels. Of the 108,000 asylum applications made in the UK last year, about 40,000 came from people who entered the country legally, compared with around 35,000 from small boat crossings. Student visa holders represented the largest group among legal entrants.
As part of its broader immigration clampdown, the Labour government has introduced stricter thresholds for universities, linking their ability to sponsor international students to visa refusal and course completion rates. The post-study stay for overseas graduates has also been reduced from two years to 18 months.
Although student visa asylum claims accounted for just over 10 per cent of total applications, Cooper insisted that addressing every part of the system was necessary to restore balance. The Home Office also stressed that any claim deemed to lack merit would be swiftly rejected, and students who do not meet destitution criteria would not receive support.
