Raphael Johnson
Tens of thousands of international students in the United Kingdom are under direct warning from the government: leave when your visas expire or face removal.
According to the BBC, the UK Home Office has launched a sweeping campaign to curb what it calls an “alarming” surge in student visa holders attempting to remain in the country by filing asylum claims.
In a first-of-its-kind move, the Home Office is now sending text messages and emails to students, bluntly warning:
“If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave. If you don’t, we will remove you.”
Data from the Home Office shows that 15 per cent of asylum applications last year—around 16,000—were made by people who originally arrived on student visas. Officials say the trend has fuelled pressure on the already overstretched asylum system.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC that some students were exploiting the process.
“We obviously will do our bit to support genuine refugees, but if nothing has changed in their country, people should not be claiming asylum at the end of a student course,” she said.
So far, around 10,000 students whose visas are nearing expiry have already received direct warnings. Another 130,000 students and their families are expected to be contacted in the coming months, coinciding with the autumn intake period.
The Home Office insists that unmerited asylum claims will be “swiftly and robustly refused,” while support will only be available to those who meet destitution criteria.
The campaign forms part of Labour’s broader tightening of immigration rules. In May, the government announced that UK universities would face stricter thresholds on visa refusal and course completion rates in order to continue sponsoring foreign students.
While public debate has often centred on small boat crossings across the Channel, official figures reveal that legal entrants—including students, workers, and visitors—accounted for 40,000 of last year’s 108,000 asylum applications. Student visa holders were the single largest group.
In response, ministers have also cut the period overseas graduates can remain in the UK after completing their courses from two years to 18 months.
Despite a recent 10 per cent drop in claims by students, the Home Office insists tougher measures are necessary. Cooper argued that fixing the asylum system requires tackling “every single bit of it.”