Visa applications for some nationalities could be restricted

Visa applications from nationalities thought astir apt to overstay and assertion asylum successful the UK could beryllium restricted nether a caller authorities crackdown.

Under Home Office plans, archetypal reported in the Times, radical from countries specified arsenic Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka whitethorn find it much hard to travel to the UK to enactment and study.

Ministers judge determination is simply a peculiar occupation with those who travel to the UK legally connected enactment oregon survey visas and past lodge a assertion for asylum - which if granted, would let them to enactment successful the state permanently.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Our upcoming Immigration White Paper volition acceptable retired a broad program to reconstruct bid to our breached migration system."

It is not wide which nationalities are astir apt to overstay their visas arsenic the Home Office has not published statistic connected exit checks since 2020, owed to a review into the accuracy of the figures.

Many exits from the UK tin spell unrecorded, meaning those without a departure grounds were not needfully inactive successful the country.

Prof Jonathan Portes, a elder chap astatine the world deliberation vessel UK successful a Changing Europe, said the interaction that restricting visas would person connected the fig of asylum applications was "likely to beryllium rather small".

"I deliberation the interaction present is not designed chiefly to beryllium astir numbers overall, it's designed to beryllium astir reducing asylum claims which are perceived to beryllium abusive," helium told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"When you person idiosyncratic who comes present ostensibly arsenic a pupil and past switches rapidly to the asylum route... that is an maltreatment of the strategy - the authorities is trying to trim that."

Latest Home Office figures amusement that much than 108,000 radical claimed asylum successful the UK past twelvemonth - the highest level since records began successful 1979.

In total, 10,542 Pakistani nationals claimed asylum - the astir of immoderate nationality. Some 2,862 Sri Lankan nationals and 2,841 Nigerian nationals claimed asylum successful the aforesaid period.

Latest figures for 2023/24 besides amusement determination were 732,285 planetary students successful the UK, with astir coming from India (107,480) and China (98,400).

The fig of UK enactment and survey visas dropped successful 2024, compared to the twelvemonth before.

Since becoming premier curate past year, Sir Keir Starmer has promised to trim some amerciable and ineligible migration - but has antecedently declined to connection a nett migration target, saying an "arbitrary cap" has had nary interaction successful the past.

Labour's plans to trim migration see making it a transgression offence to endanger the lives of others astatine sea, to people tiny vessel crossings, and cutting request for overseas hires by processing grooming plans for sectors that are presently reliant connected migrant workers.

Sir Keir has criticised the erstwhile Conservative government, saying it failed to present little nett migration numbers "by design, not accident".

Net migration - the fig of radical coming to the UK, minus the fig leaving - deed a grounds 906,000 successful the twelvemonth to June 2023, and past fell to 728,000 successful the twelvemonth to June 2024.

New rules introduced by erstwhile Prime Minister Rishi Sunak successful a bid to trim migration levels look to person contributed to the fall.

The erstwhile Conservative authorities accrued the minimum wage for skilled overseas workers wanting to travel to the UK from £26,200 to £38,700 and banned attraction workers from bringing household dependants to the UK.

Labour was already nether unit to marque changes to the migration strategy - but that unit whitethorn person grown aft Reform UK's successes successful past week's section elections.

Reform won 677 of astir 1,600 seats contested connected Thursday crossed a clutch of chiefly Tory-held councils past contested successful 2021.

In its wide predetermination manifesto, Reform said it would instrumentality a frost connected non-essential immigration. Those with definite skills - for illustration successful healthcare - would inactive beryllium allowed to travel to the UK.

Reacting to the results past week, Sir Keir said helium shared the "sharp borderline of fury" felt by voters leaning distant from the large parties, arguing that it would spur him connected to "go further and faster" successful delivering Labour's promised changes to migration and nationalist services.

Enver Solomon, main enforcement of the Refugee Council, said that "some radical connected enactment oregon survey visas whitethorn find their lives astatine hazard due to the fact that the governmental concern successful their location state has changed", adding that it was close they were "protected from harm and fixed a just proceeding successful the asylum system".

Plans to tackle overstaying were already being worked connected earlier the section elections.

Full details of government's plans are owed to beryllium published successful a caller migration achromatic insubstantial aboriginal successful May.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "To tackle maltreatment by overseas nationals who get connected enactment and survey visas and spell connected to assertion asylum, we are gathering quality connected the illustration of these individuals to place them earlier and faster.

"We support the visa strategy nether changeless reappraisal and volition wherever we observe trends, which whitethorn undermine our migration rules, we volition not hesitate to instrumentality action.

"Under our program for change, our upcoming Immigration White Paper volition acceptable retired a broad program to reconstruct bid to our breached migration system."