The Residence Workplace has introduced it’s going to stop issuing research visas to nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan and work visas for Afghans. The aim is to forestall these coming into on such visas from claiming asylum. The change might be launched by new immigration guidelines on 5 March 2026 and comes into power on 26 March 2026.
Final 12 months noticed the second highest ever variety of asylum claims made within the UK: 100,625. In line with the immigration statistics launched final week, the proportion of claims made by individuals holding a visa – for instance as a customer, scholar or employee – was 39%. That’s virtually as many as enter by small boat. In contrast to small boats arrivals, the granting of visas is one thing the federal government can instantly management.
If we take a look at how these figures have modified over time, the proportionate enhance in asylum claims made by visa holders since Brexit is hanging. See the stacked knowledge chart beneath.
Of those that held a visa, 35% (13,557) held a piece visa, 32% (12,578) held a research visa, 19% (7,521) held a customer visa and 14% held different types of depart. If the Residence Workplace can considerably cut back the variety of asylum claims made by visa holders, it will convey the variety of asylum claims down doubtlessly fairly significantly.
Nevertheless, the nations and visa sorts focused by the Residence Workplace on this change don’t appear to align intently with asylum claims really being made. The announcement rigorously doesn’t really state what number of asylum claims have been really made by the focused visa holders of the focused nationalities.
The Residence Workplace does now publish statistics on the technique of arrival of asylum seekers however so far as I can see doesn’t totally break this down by nationality. In 2025 there have been a complete of 910 asylum claims made by Afghans with visas and 596 claims by Sudanese nationals with visas (chart Asy_01d within the asylum abstract tables). It isn’t clear what sort of visas they held and there are not any figures I can see for the variety of asylum claims made by nationals of Cameroon or Myanmar with visas.
95% of Afghan college students are stated to have claimed asylum, and the separate entry clearance statistics state {that a} complete of 227 Afghan scholar visas have been issued and 154 Afghan work visas, for instance. The variety of scholar visas for the opposite affected nations have been Sudan: 243; Cameroon: 538; Myanmar: 2,084.
The rise in asylum claims by visa holders is essentially a results of modifications to the immigration system made since Brexit. EU residents don’t usually declare asylum. Another nationalities do. The chart beneath from the Residence Workplace’s personal evaluation final week tells us the nationalities of lots of the asylum claims made by visa holders within the final 12 months: Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Nigeria make up a sizeable proportion, and they’re supply nations for lots of the staff and college students who’ve been recruited to the UK because the shift away from EU nationals led to by Brexit.
It’s no shock that the federal government is in search of methods to scale back asylum claims by visa holders. It’s the first time a focused visa ban like this has ever been used nevertheless it might not be the final.
