Penalties to be introduced if less than 95% of foreign students enrol, 90% graduate, and visa rejections are above 5%
The Times has reported that the Government will announce new rules next month aimed at curbing what is it claims to be the misuse of student visas by foreign nationals. It comes after Home Office figures published in March showed that around 16,000 people who claimed asylum in 2024 had originally arrived in the UK on a study visa.
Image credit: WikipediaUnder the proposed changes reported by The Times, universities face penalties if they fail to meet certain performance thresholds for international students. These include ensuring that at least 95 percent of foreign students actually begin their courses and at least 90 percent complete them. Universities will also be penalised if more than 5 percent of their student visa applications are rejected.
Institutions that fall short will face restrictions on how many international students they can sponsor and will be required to demonstrate improvements, while those with persistently poor records will face losing the ability to sponsor overseas students altogether.
As The Times notes, there were 732,285 overseas students studying at UK higher education providers in the year 2023-24, with their tuition fees accounting for nearly 25 percent of total university income. The 16,000 asylum claims made by overseas students in 2024 represents around 2% of that figure.
The Guardian reported in May that Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has suggested that the figures point to a pattern of misuse, with some applicants falsely declaring financial self-sufficiency when applying for study visas, only to seek asylum once their permission to stay expires.
The Times also reported that the Government will be announcing new measures targeting countries whose nationals are considered to be abusing visa routes and are disproportionately represented in overstaying and claiming asylum.
According to the The Times, the Home Office has identified nationals from Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka as being the most likely to enter the UK on a visa and then later go on to claim asylum. Under the new measures, applicants from these countries will be subject to enhanced checks, including reviews of their bank statements and social media activity, in an effort to assess whether their primary intention is to study or to seek asylum after entering the UK.