Universities will be stripped of the right to recruit international students if too many drop out, as the government tightens the screws on visa abuse.
New sponsorship rules will introduce a sliding scale of penalties for higher education institutions that fail to recruit responsibly.
It comes after asylum claims from work, study and tourist visas more than tripled under the previous government – reaching 37% of all claims, with foreign students accounting for the largest share.
Asylum claims by students have since fallen by 30% in the past year alone following tough action taken in partnership with the sector.
The Home Secretary has also imposed a first-of-its-kind visa brake on study visas for nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan following a surge in asylum claims.
These reforms build on that progress, raising the pass marks of the annual test used to monitor visa sponsors – across all three of its metrics
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Visa refusal rate must remain below 5% (previously 10%)
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Course enrolment rate must reach at least 95% (previously 90%)
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Course completion rate must reach at least 90% (previously 85%)
Minister for Migration and Citizenship Mike Tapp said
The UK will always welcome genuine international students, and our universities are rightly admired around the world.
But our visa system must not be used as a backdoor to asylum and illegal working.
Student asylum claims are down 30% in the last year. I thank the sector for their co-operation in achieving this, but we must go further.
Those seeking to game the system should know we are watching – and won’t hesitate to act.
High drop-out rates can indicate students have entered the illegal working economy rather than studied whilst high visa rejection rates or low enrolment figures suggest some institutions have not done enough due diligence on applicants. But from summer 2027, a new traffic light rating system will make clear to regulators, and the public, which institutions are recruiting responsibly.
Those rated red will face restrictions on the number of students they can recruit and must fund a 12-month action plan to fix failing practices.
Those that don’t improve face losing international student recruitment rights altogether.
The changes were announced during a visit to Manchester Metropolitan University by Home Office Minister Mike Tapp, hosted by Vice-Chancellor Professor Malcolm Press and Universities UK.
Professor Malcolm Press CBE DL, President of Universities UK said
UK universities are one of our greatest success stories, and we should be proud that people from around the world aspire to study here. We are fully committed to protecting the integrity of the visa system and working in partnership with the Home Office.
International students bring significant economic and soft power benefits, contributing £37 billion in export earnings. We want the UK to remain open and welcoming, but that depends on responding quickly to any risks of abuse.
What universities need from government is policy stability, transparent visa decision-making, and real-time data to act on emerging concerns. The sector relies on international student income, and recent sharp declines have led to substantial cost-cutting and job losses. It is essential that we build a fair, stable, and transparent system that works in the national interest.
The Home Office is actively exploring new ways to share data with the education sector, within a robust data protection framework.
Education institutions also hold valuable data of their own, and the government continues to urge them to work together to share intelligence across the sector and crack down on abuse wherever it occurs.
Since last summer, the Home Office has contacted 306,000 students whose visas are due to expire – warning that meritless asylum claims will be swiftly refused and those without the right to remain must leave or face removal.
These measures form part of the government’s broader drive to restore order and control to the immigration system – under which net migration has now fallen by 74%.