An loophole used by asylum seekers has been closed as the Home Office has issued a warning to potential migrants.
The new campaign has been launched targeting international students in response to what it has called an “alarming” spike in those arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire.
International students will be issued with a direct warning via text and email for the first time.
It is believed that about 130,000 students and their families in total will be sent a message telling them they will be “removed”.
The full message will read: “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 number of students claiming graduate visas soared by almost 50 per cent to 140,000 last year, with a rejection rate of just 0.6 per cent, Universities UK said.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper spoke in the Commons about new visa rules yesterday
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PA
As a result, students “don’t really need to claim asylum any more”, one source at think tank Migration Watch told GB News.
Typically, they can stay for up to two years while working or seeking employment.
Tory policy chief and MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston Neil O’Brien warned that students effectively disappear off the radar – with the Home Office unable and possibly unwilling to track them down.
Departmental data shows that 16,000 people who arrived in Britain on student visas applied for asylum in 2024. “It’s a fairly under-discussed problem, even though it’s a big one,” a researcher at Migration Watch UK told GB News.
“There’s a lot of focus on temporary workers, but really, the ‘Trojan Horse’ issue of universities is being ignored”.
Neil O’Brien, the Tory MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston told GB News the Home Office was ‘unable and possibly unwilling to track them down’
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UK ParliamentAsylum applications from work, study and tourist visa-holders more than tripled under the previous government and accounted for 37 per cent (41,400) of overall claims in the year ending June 2025.
International students made up the highest proportion of claimants at 40 per cent, followed by 29 per cent from work visas and 24 per cent visitors.
More to follow…