UK universities pull offers from Nigerian applicants as visa refusals climb

Universities across the United Kingdom are revoking admission offers made to overseas candidates, among them applicants from Nigeria and Pakistan, because growing visa refusal rates are threatening their capacity to bring in foreign students, the Financial Times reported. An FT review of Home Office figures found that 22.7 per cent of study visa applications from Nigerian nationals were withdrawn during the first six months of 2026, up from 4.5 per cent in the corresponding period of 2025. For Pakistani applicants, withdrawals climbed from 3 per cent to 40.9 per cent, and Bangladesh saw an increase from 7.1 per cent to 23.5 per cent. Indian applicants went from 1.2 per cent to 5.2 per cent. In total, 10.5 per cent of study visa applications were withdrawn in the first half of 2026, compared with 2.3 per cent a year earlier and 0.4 per cent in 2023. A study visa can only be sought after an applicant receives a university offer. If the university later cancels that offer, the visa application is withdrawn. While withdrawals can occur for other reasons, universities said the surge was mainly caused by institutions rescinding offers. They linked it to study visa refusals doubling in the first half of 2026 versus the same period in 2025, as well as stricter rules on sponsoring international students. Under the updated requirements, a university can be barred from recruiting overseas students if more than five per cent of applicants who received offers later have their visa applications refused. The prior limit was 10 per cent. The report said refusals had increased especially among nationalities the government suspects may exploit the student visa route to claim asylum. Roughly 15 universities are believed to have halted recruitment from Pakistan altogether this year. Data from Enroly, a visa-processing company, indicated that refusal rates at nearly half of universities are above the five per cent threshold. University of Sunderland Vice-Chancellor Sir David Bell said universities were acting preventively. “The recent and unexpected spike in visa refusals has prompted pre-emptive action in several universities. This has involved pulling back from international markets where a tougher approach is being taken to visa applications.” Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, said confidence in the immigration system must be maintained, but added that “visa processing has become markedly less predictable.” “Many refusals appear to rest on flawed, inconsistent and highly subjective reasoning, forcing universities to withdraw offers at scale to avoid breaching compliance thresholds,” he said. University leaders cautioned that the restrictions could worsen financial difficulties, as stricter immigration policies and global competition reduce overseas applications and endanger a key revenue source. “This is going to result in restructures, which inevitably results in job losses, course closures, campus closures,” said Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of University Alliance, which represents 20 professional and technical universities. Institutions described instances where applicants were denied visas because they had previously looked at studying in other countries. One case involved a PhD applicant who was asked to identify course modules even though the research degree had none. Professor Steven McGuire, deputy vice-chancellor of the University of East Anglia, said his university started withdrawing offers from certain countries late last year after refusals rose sharply. “We were getting some very arbitrary and ill-informed refusals,” he said. “We had one where the interviewer did not seem to understand that UEA was in Norwich [and so rejected the applicant for not knowing where they were going to study].” McGuire warned the policy could lead universities to “double down on China and India,” where refusal rates were lower. With international fee income falling, institutions were “running out of options except a very significant resizing of the sector,” he added. Professor James Miller, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland and convener of Universities Scotland, called some refusals “extremely spurious.” He said the Home Office had provided “no real explanation [for the increase] other than concern about number of students claiming asylum.” Some universities had “stopped recruiting from certain geographical areas to keep refusal rates below 5 per cent,” he added. Miller warned that many institutions could see overseas student numbers fall by more than 20 per cent this year, making job cuts “inevitable” unless policy changes. “It’s harming the UK’s reputation, it’s contrary to other government policies and at an individual level it’s denying opportunity to people who want to advance their careers and their lives,” he said. The Home Office said international students “make a positive contribution” to Britain, but added that “this must not be at the expense of recruiting responsibly, in turn protecting the integrity of our immigration system.” It said universities were being offered “support where needed to improve recruitment practices.”