Four countries, including Sudan, barred from obtaining study visas in the UK

The UK Government has issued an emergency brake on issuing study visas to students from Sudan, Afghanistan, Cameroon, and Myanmar, to slow the rates of those claiming asylum after their studies.

Recently, six students from Sudan and Afghanistan have accused the Home Secretary of racial discrimination and have launched legal action against the policy.

The Home Office announced its changes on 4 March, promising an end to the high rates of asylum seekers from the four nations. The statement said that “claims by students from Cameroon and Sudan spiked by more than 330%, posing an unsustainable threat to the UK’s asylum system”.

Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused […] I will restore order and control to our borders

Shabana Mahmood, Home Secretary

The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced the ban as part of a larger scheme to reduce the cases of immigration to the UK, a long-term issue for the Labour government. Labour policy promises “restoring order and control to our immigration system so that it operates swiftly, firmly, and fairly.”

Mahmood said: “Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused […] I will restore order and control to our borders.”

The Home Office has declared that 95% of Afghan refugees to the UK arrived on a student visa, before seeking asylum. Rates of immigration via student visas in the other three listed countries have rapidly increased since 2021.

However, Sudanese students have responded with disappointment, arguing that the education and safety provided by the UK is needed to build back their home country. Critics have cited that only 120 Sudanese students, and 16% of Burmese students claimed asylum after their degrees in 2024-25.

Student visas are often one of the only lawful ways people can reach safety and continue their education

Minnie Rahman, CEO of Praxis

Six students who have undergraduate degrees in STEM subjects and who hold offers to attend UK universities including Oxford, Cambridge, and Imperial College London, are calling on Mahmood to stop, or at least suspend, the visa action.

Their legal action states: “The unprecedented and harsh, directly racially discriminatory effect of this measure is to immediately terminate eligibility for sponsored study visas for all nationals from four countries.”

Spokespeople from migrant charities have also opposed the ban, criticising the punishment of all students in unstable countries due to the actions of a few.

Minnie Rahman, the CEO of Praxis, stated that “student visas are often one of the only lawful ways people can reach safety and continue their education”, and that “[the ban] will shut the door on young people”.

The four nations all experience significant violence, with Afghanistan under oppressive Taliban rule, Cameroon in a separatist struggle, and Sudan and Myanmar in the midst of civil war.

The move follows a similar move by the US government, which banned students of 19 countries from securing student or short-term visas.