InfoMigrants

The British government has said it will halt study visa applications for people from four countries, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Sudan and Myanmar. It is also halting the application of work visas for people from Afghanistan.

British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood declared this week that the UK’s generosity was being "abused" by some and has consequently halted applications for study visas from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanamar and Sudan. In addition, applicants for work visas from Afghanistan will also be halted.

Mahmood claims that more and more people from these four countries in particular are attempting to use legal migration routes as a back door into the UK to then claim asylum once there.

The visa brake will be introduced by an immigration rule change on March 5 and will come into force from March 26, 2025.

'I will restore order and control to our borders'

"Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused. That is why I am taking the unprecedented decision to refuse visas for those nationals seeking to exploit our generosity. I will restore order and control to our borders," Mahmood said on Tuesday (March 3).

Home Office (Interior Ministry) data suggests that 39 percent of the 100,000 people who claimed asylum in 2025 did so after arriving in the UK through a legal migration route, such as a study visa.

The British government is keen to 'restore order to the borders' and show they can be tough on migration, in the face of falling poll ratings and upcoming elections | Photo: Thomas Krych/ZUMA Press Wire

In total, 133,760 people have claimed asylum after arriving legally in the past five years, according to the Home Office.

'Rocketing' increase in claims

In a press release dated March 4, the Home Office states that asylum applications by students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan had rocketed by "over 470 percent between 2021 and 2025 – making them among the most likely nationalities to claim."

In addition, according to the Home Office, "the number of Afghans on work visas claiming asylum is now outstripping the number of visas issued."

The problem for Britain, said the Home Office, is that once someone claims asylum, many of them are then accommodated at "taxpayer expense." An above average proportion of people from these four countries are also claiming destitution.

Overall, asylum support is costing the UK "more than four billion pounds (around 4.5 billion euros) a year – with nearly 16,000 nationals from the four countries currently supported at public expense, including over 6,000 in hotels."

File photo: Asylum support is costing the UK more than four billion pounds per year, including support for nearly 16,000 nationals from the four countries that will receive an emergency brake | Source: Screenshot ITV News

'Further action needed'

Between 2021 and September 2025, the proportion of Afghan asylum claims to study visas issued was 95 percent. Applications by students from Myanmar "soared 16-fold over the same period," noted the Home Office.

Asylum claims by students from Cameroon and Sudan also "spiked more than 330 percent posing an unstainable threat to the UK’s asylum system."

During 2025, the UK government says it "successfully reduced student asylum claims by 20 percent" but that "further action was needed as those arriving on study visas still make up 13 percent of all claims in the system."

The British government said that since taking office in July 2024, it had slashed 1 billion pounds (around 1.14 billion euros) from the asylum support bill.

Britain's Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced an 'emergency brake' on study visas from four countries, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan | Photo: Thomas Krych/ ZUMA Press Wire

Visas as a bargaining tool

Using visas as a bargaining tool has been successful for the UK in the past. In November, Mahmood threatened to shut down all UK visas for applicants from Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, unless their governments agreed to take back migrants deemed to be in the UK illegally.

Four months later, stated the Home Office, "cooperation has been secured with all three countries. Flights are off the ground and illegal migrants and foreign national offenders are being returned."

More capped safe and legal routes promised

More new capped safe and legal routes have been promised as an alternative, although details about how many people these might be available for have not yet been released.

Since 2021 and the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, Britain has offered sanctuary to more than 37,000 Afghans via two resettlement schemes. A total of 190,000 visas were also granted on humanitarian routes in 2025, stated the Home Office.

Between 2010 and 2025, the UK has resettled the sixth largest number of refugees referred by the UNHCR in the world.

Mahmood is due to make a speech in parliament about the changes on March 5. The government is keen to show it is getting tough on immigration, ahead of local elections in May this year, and just after having lost a previously safe seat in a by-election last week. On Monday, Mahmood announced that the British government would also be reviewing protection for refugees in the future every 30 months instead of every five years. Anyone found to be from a country considered safe at the time of the review would be asked to return and would lose their protection status.