UK home office targets foreign students as it clamps down on asylum claims

LONDON: Tens of thousands of Indian students are set to receive text messages from the UK home office in the coming weeks warning them not to make fake asylum claims to remain in Britain and that anyone who overstays will face removal.

Ten thousand international students and dependants whose visas are due to expire received the text message last week, with tens of thousands more expected to receive it over the coming weeks.

The text message reads: “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.”

It comes as the UK govt is under intense pressure to close down asylum hotels, costing the state £5.7 million (Rs 68 crore) per day, and reduce the number of people making asylum claims.

In the year ending June 2025 there were 111,800 asylum claims made, of which 43,600 (39%) were made by small boats arrivals, and 37% (41,100) were made by people already in the UK on visas. Asylum claims from legal routes have tripled between 2022 and 2025. Study visas are the most common visa to claim asylum on. Around 15,000 international students each year claim asylum which can entitle them to free hotels whilst their claims are being assessed.

A total of 98,014 study visas were granted to Indians in the year ending June 2025, making them the second-largest cohort of international students after Chinese students.

Indians are now the sixth-largest cohort of foreign nationals to claim asylum in the UK. Pakistanis are the largest. 71% of asylum applications made by Indians in the year ending June 2025 were made by Indians on legal visas or other leave already in the UK, the home office said.

Of 5,345 asylum claims made by Indian nationals in the year ending June 2025, 83% (4,465) were made by Indians in the country and 16% (880) were made by Indians at ports.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper said: “People should not be claiming asylum at the end of a student course if nothing has changed in their home country. We need to clamp down on that kind of misuse. The asylum system is not for people who just want to extend their visas.”