Universities will be stripped of
the right to recruit international students
if too many drop out, as the government tightens the screws on
visa abuse.
New sponsorship rules will introduce a sliding
scale of penalties for higher education institutions
that fail to recruit responsibly.
It comes after asylum claims from work, study and
tourist visas more than tripled under
the previous government – reaching 37% of all claims,
with foreign students accounting for the largest
share.
Asylum claims by students have since fallen by 30% in the past
year alone following tough action taken in
partnership with the sector.
The Home Secretary has also imposed
a first-of-its-kind visa brake
on study visas for nationals of Afghanistan,
Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan following a surge in
asylum claims.
These reforms build on that
progress, raising the pass marks of the
annual test used to monitor visa
sponsors – across all three of its metrics:
-
Visa refusal rate: must remain below 5% (previously
10%)
-
Course enrolment rate: must reach at least 95% (previously
90%)
-
Course completion rate: must reach at least 90% (previously
85%)
Minister for Migration and Citizenship said:
The UK will always welcome genuine international
students, and our universities are rightly admired around
the world.
But our visa system must not be used as a backdoor to
asylum and illegal working.
Student asylum claims are down 30% in the last year. I thank
the sector for their co-operation in achieving this, but we
must go further.
Those seeking to game the system should know we are
watching – and won't hesitate to act.
High drop-out rates can indicate students have entered
the illegal working economy rather than studied whilst
high visa rejection rates or low enrolment
figures suggest some institutions have not done enough
due diligence on applicants. But from summer 2027, a new
traffic light rating system will make clear
to regulators, and the public, which institutions are
recruiting responsibly.
Those rated red will face restrictions on the number of students
they can recruit and must fund a 12-month action plan to fix
failing practices.
Those that don't improve face losing international
student recruitment rights altogether.
The changes were announced during a visit to Manchester
Metropolitan University by Home Office Minister , hosted by Vice-Chancellor
Professor Malcolm Press and Universities UK.
Professor Malcolm Press CBE DL, President of
Universities UK said:
UK universities are one of our greatest success stories, and we
should be proud that people from around the world aspire to study
here. We are fully committed to protecting the integrity of the
visa system and working in partnership with the Home
Office.
International students bring significant economic and soft power
benefits, contributing £37 billion in export earnings. We want
the UK to remain open and welcoming, but that depends on
responding quickly to any risks of abuse.
What universities need from government is policy stability,
transparent visa decision-making, and real-time data to act on
emerging concerns. The sector relies on international student
income, and recent sharp declines have led to substantial
cost-cutting and job losses. It is essential that we build a
fair, stable, and transparent system that works in the national
interest.
The Home Office is actively exploring new ways to share data with
the education sector, within a robust data
protection framework.
Education institutions also hold valuable data of their
own, and the government continues to urge them to work
together to share intelligence across the sector and crack down
on abuse wherever it occurs.
Since last summer, the Home Office has
contacted 306,000 students whose visas are due to
expire – warning
that meritless asylum claims will be swiftly
refused and those without the right to remain must leave or face
removal.
These measures form part of the government's broader drive to
restore order and control to the immigration system - under which
net migration has now fallen by 74%.
