British universities will face official sanctions if their students seek asylum after enrolling on courses. The crackdown, commencing in September alongside the new academic year, would impose penalties on institutions which appear complicit in their overseas recruits attempting to secure permanent residency in Britain.
Institutions will need a minimum of 95% of international students to commence their studies and at least 90% to complete. Should these targets not be met, permission to recruit foreign students will be withdrawn by the government.
In 2024, 16,000 asylum claims came from those legally in the UK on a student visa but, coincidentally, with their visa end date fast approaching. A proportion were then housed and subsidised in publicly funded accommodation.
Border Security Minister and trans ideologue Dame Angela Eagle declared
The evidence is clear: targeted visa restrictions work … The UK will always welcome genuine visitors, workers and students, but we will not tolerate this kind of systematic abuse.
This policy announcement follows the revelation that for many institutions a key claim made by university executives—that overseas graduate students subsidise the teaching of their domestic counterparts—is untrue.
