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Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the UK government and warned they will be removed if they overstay their visas.
The Home Office said the move follows an “alarming” increase in students entering on study visas and later applying for asylum once their visas expire. For the first time, the department is sending text and email warnings to students.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC that some are claiming asylum “even when things haven’t changed in their home country,” adding that many remain in the system for years, which “causes problems with asylum accommodation and hotels.”
She said, “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.”
Around 13% of asylum applications in the year to June came from people who arrived on study visas, about 14,800 cases, almost six times more than in 2020. Although the figure has since dropped by 10%, ministers want it reduced further.
Ten thousand students with visas due to expire have already been contacted, while tens of thousands more will receive the message this autumn.
It warns: “If you submit an asylum claim that lacks merit, it will be swiftly and robustly refused… If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave. If you don’t, we will remove you.”
The government has already moved to tighten visa rules, making it harder for universities to keep their sponsorship licences if students fail to complete courses.
Earlier this year, it also reduced the time overseas graduates can stay after their studies from two years to 18 months.
As Parliament returned on Monday, Cooper announced a temporary suspension of new refugee family reunion applications and said the first migrant returns under the UK’s new “one in, one out” deal with France will begin later this month.
