UK will no longer issue study visas to nationals from Cameroon, Sudan, Myanmar and Afghanistan

Nationals from Cameroon, Sudan, Myanmar and Afghanistan will no longer be eligible for UK study visas, the British government announced on Tuesday.

The move is part of the UK's crackdown on asylum seekers.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the visa system was being "abused" by students from those countries applying for asylum after entering Britain.

"Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused," Mahmood said in a statement. "That is why I am taking the unprecedented decision to refuse visas for those nationals seeking to exploit our generosity."

Since 2021, almost 135,000 asylum seekers have used legal routes to reach the UK, Mahmood said. Applications from students from Cameroon, Sudan, Afghanistan and Myanmar increased by more than 470 percent between 2021 and 2025.

Britain's Labour government is trying to fend off attacks by the hard-right Reform UK party, which has surged in the polls on an anti-immigrant platform.

Last year, Britain reduced student asylum claims by 20 percent, the Home Office said, but people arriving on student visas still make up 13 percent of all claims in the system.