International students warned not to overstay visas

Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the government and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas.

The Home Office launched the new government campaign in response to what it has called an “alarming” spike in the number of international students arriving legally on student visas then claiming asylum when they expire.

As part of the campaign, the Home Office has for the first time proactively contacted international students directly by text and email.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC some international students are claiming asylum “even when things haven’t changed in their home country”.

Around 13% of asylum applications in the year to June, around 14,800, came from people in the UK a study visa, according to Home Office data.

Pakistan was the most common country of origin, responsible for 5,700 of these applications, followed by students from India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria.

Although the number of student visa holders applying for asylum has dropped from the year before, it is nearly six times as many as in 2020, according to the department.

The Home Office did not break down how many applications were made from students who overstayed their visa.

Clamping down on study as a means to claim asylum has increasingly been a focus for the Home Office in recent months.

In May, the department announced it planned to tighten rules that aim to stop migrants using university study as a way to enter the UK.

Under the plans, beginning this month, the visa refusal and course completion rates that universities have to meet in order not to risk losing their ability to sponsor future visas are to be made stricter.

It comes as the government tries to regain the initiative on migration, following a summer dominated by headlines on small boat arrivals and the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.

As MPs returned to Parliament on Monday, Cooper announced new applications for a scheme allowing refugees to bring their family members to the UK would be temporarily suspended.

The government is also promising that the first migrant returns under the UK’s new “one in, one out” deal with France will begin later this month.

The new message campaign will see around 130,000 students and their families receive a message telling them if they have “no legal right to remain” in the country they “must leave”.

Ten thousand international students whose visas are due to expire have already been contacted directly by text and email – warning them they could be deported.

Tens of thousands more will receive the message in the coming months, the BBC understands, to coincide with autumn when applications often increase.

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.”

Cooper told BBC Breakfast that students are entering the asylum system and sometimes staying there for years, which “causes problems with asylum accommodation and hotels”.

“We obviously will do our bit to support genuine refugees,” she added, “but if nothing has changed in their country, people should not be claiming asylum at the end of a student course.”

While the political focus this summer has been on people arriving on small boats, a similar number arrive legally with visas, then apply for asylum often when those visas run out.

Many of these claims are legitimate, but ministers are worried that too many international students are seeking asylum simply to stay in the country because their leave to remain has run out.

According to the Home Office, 43,600 out of 111,084 asylum applications in the year to June came from people arriving on a small boat.

But a similar number, 41,100, had travelled to the UK legally through routes such as a work, study, or visitor visa, including the 14,800 on student visas.

Earlier this year, the Home Office announced a cut in the amount of time overseas graduates can stay in the UK after their studies – from two years to 18 months.

Universities UK, an umbrella group for British universities, said it recognised the government had “raised concerns about the number of asylum claims, and we have discussed this matter with officials”.

“To make sure universities can continue to play their part, we need improved, real-time data sharing between Home Office and the sector so that universities can respond proactively to any issues as soon as they are identified,” it added.

The Refugee Council said the situation in some students’ home countries could change “dramatically” after their arrival in the UK.

Jon Featonby, the charity’s senior policy analyst, said other people seeking asylum only felt safe enough to ask for protection once they reach the UK “because they fear reprisal or surveillance in their home country”.

“It’s wrong to suggest that people who arrive on a visa and then apply for asylum are abusing the system and do not have a genuine need for protection,” he added.