The UK has suspended student visas for four countries after they were exposed as the source of widespread asylum fraud.
The Home Office has put an “emergency brake” on student visa applications from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Sudan, and Myanmar – with Shabana Mahmood warning migrants from those countries were “exploiting Britain’s generosity”.
Migrants from these countries have been using legal migration as a “backdoor” to seek asylum the UK, the Government said.
Controversial skilled worker visas from Afghanistan are also being suspended – with the number of asylum seekers from the country outnumbering work visas issued last year.
The Home Office said 39 per cent of the 100,000 asylum seekers in 2025 claimed their status after arriving in the UK through a legal migration route such as a student visa, triple the number from five years ago.
The four countries are the most likely countries for migrants to claim asylum after entering on a visa, with the suspension on visa application set to last indefinitely while under review, Home Office sources said.
But in terms of raw numbers, Pakistani, Nigerian and Sri Lankan students have been earmarked by the Home Office as the nationalities most likely to overstay their student visas and claim asylum in Britain.
Ms Mahmood said: “Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused.
“That is why I am taking the unprecedented decision to refuse visas for those nationals seeking to exploit our generosity.
The UK has suspended student visas for four countries after they were exposed as the source of widespread asylum fraud
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“I will restore order and control to our borders.”
Asylum applications by students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar, and Sudan represented the most significant spike between 2021 and September 2025, according to Home Office figures.
The department said 133,760 migrants claimed asylum after entering the country through legal routes in the last five years.
More than a quarter (27 per cent) of the 3,278 students from Cameroon and 23 per cent of the 1,977 students from Sudan claimed asylum between 2020 and 2024.
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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is set to introduce the rule changes on Wednesday
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Claims by students from Cameroon and Sudan spiked by more than 330 per cent over the same period.
The visa ban will officially introduced as part of an immigration rule change alongside a speech made by the Home Secretary announcing measures to toughen up the UK’s asylum system.
The asylum reforms by the Home Office, set to be introduced tomorrow and implemented on April 8, will ban a “stalling tactic” used by asylum seekers.
The unprecedented move to implement the “emergency brake” on visas serves as a warning to other countries, having previously threatened a similar move to a trio of other countries in November unless their governments agreed to take back illegal migrants.
Shabana Mahmood visited Denmark, known for its restrictive immigration policies, last month
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Angola, Namibia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo all struck co-operation agreements with Britain – and illegal migrants were returned through deportation flights.
The Government set out a plan to tackle the migrant crisis through visa and settlement rules in March of last year, with some of those plans implemented.
In January, a variety of work visas began to require a B2 standard of English, a higher standard than what was previously required.
Graduate visas are also only set to last 18 months, starting in January next year.