UK stops issuing student visas for four nations

The UK Home Office has announced an “emergency brake” on study visas for nationals from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan. It said people were using the visas to enter as students and subsequently seek asylum.

UK stops issuing student visas for four nations

Shabana Mahmood, Secretary of State for the Home Department, looks stern as she speaks at a conference
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is refusing study visas from four nationsImage: Abdullah Bailey/Avalon.

Britain has announced that will stop issuing student visas to people from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmarand Sudan.

It will also suspend skilled work visas to people from Afghanistan, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Home Office said the move was an attempt to clamp down on asylum seekers who enter Britain through legal routes.

“An ’emergency brake’ on visas ‌has been ‌imposed for the first time on nationals from four countries following a ⁠surge in asylum claims from legal routes,” ‌the UK Home Office ⁠said.

Since 2021, almost 135,000 people have entered the country legally on visas before subsequently lodging asylum claims, the Home Office said.

The Home Office said it had cut student asylum claims by 20% in 2025 but it needed to take “further action” because those arriving on study visas still make up 13% of asylum claims in the system.

The number of asylum applications by students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Sudan and Myanmar had “rocketed” by more than 470% between 2021 and 2025, it said.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said she was “taking the unprecedented decision to refuse visas for those nationals seeking to exploit our generosity.”

UK tightening asylum rules
The announcement comes a day after the UK’s tightened asylum rules took affect.

Under the reforms, the Home Office will review the refugee status for adults and their accompanying children every 30 months.

Refugees whose countries are deemed safe will be expected to return home.