Foreign 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 15% of asylum applications in the UK last year, some 16,000, came from people who arrived on a study visa, according to Home Office data.

The statistics, released for the first time in March, do 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.

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, around 35,000 out of 108,000 asylum applications last year came from people arriving on a small boat.

But a slightly bigger number, around 40,000, had travelled to the UK legally through routes such as a work, study, or visitor visa.

Those arriving on student visas, around 16,000, were the biggest group in this cohort. The Home Office says this is nearly six times as many as in 2020.

Since then, Home Office data shows there has been a drop of 10%, but ministers in the department want the figures to fall further.

Cooper said despite student claims making up just over 10% of the total claims, the government must "tackle every single bit" of the system to fix it.

The number of people on skilled worker visas being granted asylum has also fallen, according to the department.

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.