Universities face ban on foreign students over asylum 'backdoor' rules
Home Office figures show that 16,000 of those who claimed asylum last year had arrived in the UK on a study visa. According to The Times, universities will be penalised if fewer than 95 per cent of international students accepted on to a course start their studies, or fewer than 90 per cent continue to the end. Labour's plans will also reportedly see institutions that accept foreign students face sanctions if more than 5 per cent of their visas are rejected.
The worst-performing universities are set to be named and shamed as part of the crackdown, with limits imposed on the number of new foreign students they can recruit until they improve. Those that fail to do so will be stripped of their ability to sponsor study visas altogether, the newspaper reported. There were 108,000 people who claimed asylum in the UK in 2024, of which slightly more than one third (40,000) did so after travelling to Britain on a visa.
This was more than the 35,000 migrants that arrived on small boats without permission to enter the UK. Almost 10,000 people who claimed asylum after having entered on a visa were provided with asylum support in the form of accommodation during 2024.
The Home Office said, of those asylum seekers who had originally entered on a visa and are currently in supported accommodation - regardless of the year of their claim - the most common nationalities were Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
Tory MP Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said Labour's plans represented 'minor tinkering around the edges'. He called for a complete ban on people on study visas being able to claim asylum. 'These proposals amount to minor tinkering around the edges and will make little real difference, which is typical of announcements by this Government,' Mr Philp said.
'Far too many foreign students are using the pretext of study as a route into the UK. Some courses are extremely low quality and have students who barely speak any English. A number of universities are essentially selling UK visas rather than selling an education. This abuse needs to be shut down. The last Conservative government rightly ended the farce of students being able to bring family in with them but a lot more real action is now needed. No one who says they are coming here as a student should be able to later claim asylum or use a student visa as a basis to be able to stay permanently.'
It comes as the Home Office is giving £100million in extra funding to support the pilot of a new 'one in, one out' returns agreement between the UK and France and other efforts to crack down on small boat crossings. The cash will also pay for up to 300 more National Crime Agency (NCA) officers and new technology and equipment to step up intelligence-gathering on smuggling gangs.
There will be more overtime for immigration compliance and enforcement teams as well as funding for interventions in transit countries across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. Labour is seeking to deter smuggling gangs in a bid to bring down small boat crossings, which have topped 25,000 for the year so far - a record for this point in the year.
The 'one in, one out' deal agreed last month means the UK will for the first time be able to send migrants back to France in exchange for asylum seekers with links to Britain. Anyone who advertises small boat crossings or fake passports on social media could be face up to five years in prison under a new offence to be introduced under the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (pictured) said Labour had set the foundations for a 'new and much stronger law enforcement approach' over the last year. She said: 'Now this additional funding will strengthen every aspect of our plan and will turbo-charge the ability of our law enforcement agencies to track the gangs and bring them down, working with our partners overseas, and using state-of-the-art technology and equipment. Alongside our new agreements with France, this will help us drive forward our plan for change commitments to protect the UK's border security and restore order to our immigration system.'
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