The British government has started reaching out to international students, including Indians, to caution against overstaying their visas or claiming asylum in the country.
According to the BBC, the government is texting and emailing thousands of foreign students directly.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the outlet that some international students are claiming asylum “even when things haven’t changed in their home country.”
“We are taking a series of practical steps to tackle the chaos and make sure that we have got a system that is ordered and controlled again,” Cooper told the BBC.
Cooper said that as many as 15,000 students claim asylum every year when their visas expire.
“Up to 15,000 students each year end up claiming asylum often as they come to the end of their visa, even when things haven’t changed in their home country. Then going into the asylum system, sometimes staying there for years, that also causes problems with asylum accommodation and hotels. That’s what we need to fix,” the minister said.
“If nothing has changed in their country, people should not be claiming asylum at the end of a student course. We need to clamp down on that kind of misuse and that’s why we are sending these messages to be very clear to people, the asylum system is not for people who just want to extend their visas,” she added.
According to the BBC report, students whose visas are due to expire have already been contacted directly by text and email, warning them they could be deported.
The message warned: “If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave. If you don’t, we will remove you.”
Pakistanis top charts of claimants, Indians follow
Britain’s home office data indicates that approximately 13%, or about 14,800 asylum applications in the year up to June, were submitted by individuals in the UK on a study visa.
Pakistan was the primary country of origin, accounting for 5,700 of these applications. It was followed by students from India, Bangladesh, and Nigeria.
Although fewer student visa holders applied for asylum compared to the previous year, the total is nearly six times higher than in 2020, according to the department.
