00:00Nationals from Cameroon, Sudan, Myanmar and Afghanistan will no longer be eligible for
00:05UK study visas, the British government announced on Tuesday.
00:10The move is part of the UK's crackdown on asylum seekers.
00:14Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the visa system was being abused by students from those
00:19countries, applying for asylum after entering Britain.
00:23Since 2021, almost 135,000 asylum seekers have used legal routes to reach the UK, Mahmood
00:31said.
00:32Applications from students from the four targeted countries increased by more than 470 per cent
00:38between 2021 and 2025.
00:42Britain's Labour government is trying to fend off attacks by the hard-right Reform UK party,
00:47which has surged in the polls with its anti-immigrant platform.
00:51Last year, Britain reduced student asylum claims by 20 per cent, the Home Office said, but
00:58people arriving on student visas still account for 13 per cent of all claims in the system.
Comments