UK halts student visas for four countries as asylum claims surge

The UK government suspends student visas for four countries after an abnormal spike in asylum claims

The UK government has ordered an urgent suspension of student visas from four countries — Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan — after finding a sharp rise in breaches of visa conditions.

Shabana Mahmood, the UK Home Secretary, said it was necessary to suspend the issuing of student visas for nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan because there were reports of widespread violations of visa conditions involving students from all four countries.

Students from these four countries were found to show a similar pattern of breaching visa conditions: after travelling to the UK to study, many later applied for asylum in the UK.

Between 2021 and 2025, the number of such cases increased threefold.

The share of asylum applications among students from these four countries has risen alarmingly, and at present more than 16,000 students from the four countries are under UK government support and supervision.

The UK government disclosed that more than 95% of Afghan students had applied for asylum.

For Myanmar, the number of students applying for asylum rose 16 times.

For Cameroon and Sudan, the increase combined was 330%.

The situation could lead to an unsustainable asylum system for the UK, so the government decided to take decisive action by suspending visa issuance first, in the hope of reducing the number of migrants that has increased over the past five years.

In early March 2026, the government added that the period of refugee protection would be reduced to 30 months, and that everything would return to normal once the government is able to bring the situation under control.