UNIVERSITIES could be banned from taking foreign students if too many use study visas to claim asylum in Britain.
Limits could be imposed on those with high drop-out rates, poor enrolment records or large numbers of visa refusals.
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Universities could be banned from taking foreigners if too many use study visas to claim asylum and work illegally Credit: Alamy
Home Office Minister Mike Tapp warns our visa system must not be used as a back door to asylum and illegal working Credit: Getty
From next summer, they will be served with a red rating under a Home Office traffic-light ranking system and have to pay for a 12-month improvement plan.
Institutions failing to pick up could lose their international recruitment rights altogether.
It comes after overseas students became the biggest group claiming asylum after arriving legally on UK visas.
Universities are increasingly reliant on them because they typically pay far more for tuition than Brits.
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Home Office minister Mike Tapp said yesterday: “The UK will always welcome genuine international students . . . but our visa system must not be used as a back door to asylum and illegal working.
“Those seeking to game the system should know that we are watching and will not hesitate to act.”
Asylum claims from people on work, study and tourist visas more than tripled under the Conservatives, reaching 37 per cent of the total.
Ministers say asylum claims from students are down 30 per cent in the past year — in which officials have contacted 306,000 with visas due to expire.
They told them weak asylum claims would be rejected and those with no right to stay must leave or face removal.
Professor Malcolm Press, president of Universities UK, said: “We want the UK to remain open and welcoming, but that depends on responding quickly to any risks of abuse.”
New student visas for nationals of Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan have already been banned after officials uncovered widespread abuse of the system.
