UK to remove foreign students who overstay their visas
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The UK Home Office is directly warning over 130,000 international students and their families to comply with UK student visa rules or face removal, amid a rise in asylum claims post-visa expiration.
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The front page of a folder of documents from Britain's Home Office on the table of Thomas Tobierre, in Essex, England, Tuesday, June 20, 2023 (AP)
In a direct initiative from the UK government, tens of thousands of foreign students are set to receive personal communication, which will serve as a formal warning that they must comply with the terms of their visas or face removal from the country.
The Home Office has initiated this campaign as a direct response to a significant and concerning increase in cases where international students, after entering the country legally with a student visa, file for asylum once that visa expires.
Although a considerable proportion of these claims are legitimate, ministers hold the fear that an excessive number of international students are turning to the asylum system to extend their stay once their original leave to remain has expired.
As a central component of the campaign, the Home Office will, for the first time, undertake the proactive measure of directly contacting an estimated 130,000 students along with their families to warn them that they will be forced to leave the UK if they have no legal right to remain.
“If you submit an asylum claim that lacks merit, it will be swiftly and robustly refused. Any request for asylum support will be assessed against destitution criteria. If you do not meet the criteria, you will not receive support. If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave. If you don’t, we will remove you," the full message reads, according to The Guardian.
Figures to fall even further
Home Office data for the year to June 2025 shows that 43,600 asylum seekers arrived on small boats, constituting 39% of all claims, while a further 41,100 claims were submitted by people who entered legally with a visa, and the largest cohort within this visa-holding group was students, whose 16,000 claims last year were a figure nearly six times higher than in 2020.
Although Home Office data indicates a 10% drop has occurred since that time, ministers within the department are pushing for these figures to fall even further.
This comes amid increased pressure on the UK government on immigration, as British voters become increasingly discontent with the current government's policy.
A new YouGov poll conducted for The Times, published on August 25, has revealed that a significant majority of British voters disapprove of UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's strategy of housing asylum seekers in hotels.
Conducted between August 20 and 21, the survey indicates that 71% of respondents consider the current migrant accommodation policy to be flawed, and notably, this view is also held by 56% of Labour Party voters, which reflects a broader national concern that transcends political affiliations.
The poll shows that a mere 9% have faith in Labour's ability to manage the issue effectively, while just 6% back the Conservatives on this matter, a stark contrast to the 31% who expressed confidence in Nigel Farage's right-wing populist party, Reform UK, signaling a distinct shift in public sentiment towards stricter immigration control.
