Report: UK Varsities Withdraw 22.7% Admission offers to Nigerians Over Asylum Claim Abuse

Some United Kingdom universities have withdrawn admissions to Nigerian students following the British government’s ongoing visa crackdown and abuse of asylum claims.
According to the Financial Times, the universities revoked admissions mostly given to Nigerian and Pakistani applicants in the first half of 2026, driven by tighter Home Office visa rules for international students.
“The rise in the Home Office’s rejections of study visas has been driven by a bigger increase in refusals from nationalities that the UK government suspects of using the route to make asylum claims,” the report reads.
According to the publication, 10.5 percent of study visa applications to the UK ended up being withdrawn, up from 2.3 percent in the same period last year and 0.4 percent in 2023.
“Universities are revoking offers en masse made to international applicants from countries including Nigeria and Pakistan as they fear the UK government’s visa crackdown will result in a ban on their recruiting international students,” the report added.
Financial Times said the institutions clarified that they revoked admissions in reaction to a doubling in the number of study visas refused by the Home Office during the first six months of 2026.
It said 22.7 percent of study visa applications from Nigeria were withdrawn in the first half of 2026, juxtaposed with 4.5 percent in the first half of 2025.
“While visa applications can be withdrawn for other reasons, universities said the main driver had been an increase in their revoking offers,” it added.
The report said the surge in Home Office study visa rejections has been driven by a higher increase in refusals from applicants suspected by the UK government of using the route to make asylum claims.
Data from visa processing application firm Enroly indicates that nearly half of universities have refusal rates above the five percent threshold, which could lead to a ban on recruiting international students.
Speaking on the subject, Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, noted the need to maintain confidence in the immigration system.
“Visa processing has become markedly less predictable,” Arrowsmith said.
“Many refusals appear to rest on flawed, inconsistent and highly subjective reasoning, forcing universities to withdraw offers at scale to avoid breaching compliance thresholds.”
James Miller, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland, and convener of Universities Scotland, said some refusals were “extremely spurious” and that the Home Office had given “no real explanation [for the increase] other than concern about number of students claiming asylum”.
He said some universities had “stopped recruiting from certain geographical areas to keep refusal rates below 5 percent”.