Home secretary Yvette Cooper has?promised to ¡°clamp down¡± on international students claiming asylum at the end of their studies, in a move that has drawn sharp criticism from the University and College Union (UCU).

The Home Office is contacting approximately 132,000 adult students and their families ¨C all in the UK legally but nearing the end of their courses ¨C warning them by text and email that they will be removed if they remain unlawfully after their visas expire.

A pilot campaign has already reached 10,000 students whose visas are due to lapse in the coming weeks, with tens of thousands more to be contacted this autumn.

The message sent to students reads: ¡°If you submit an asylum claim that lacks merit, it will be swiftly and robustly refused. Any request for asylum support will be assessed against destitution criteria.

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¡°If you do not meet the criteria, you will not receive support. If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave. If you don¡¯t, we will remove you.¡±

Cooper told the BBC that as many as 15,000 students a year claim asylum as their visas run out, even when their home countries remain safe.

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They then go ¡°into the asylum system, sometimes staying there for years. That also causes problems with asylum accommodation and hotels,¡± she said.

She insisted that the government would support genuine refugees, pointing to work to help students from Gaza reach the UK to take up scholarships.

¡°But if nothing has changed in their country, people should not be claiming asylum at the end of a student course,¡± Cooper said.

¡°We need to clamp down on that kind of misuse and that¡¯s why we¡¯re sending these messages, to be very clear to people: the asylum system is not for people who just want to extend their visas.¡±

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According to Home Office data, 111,084 people claimed asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, nearly two fifths (41,100) of whom had originally entered on visas or other forms of legal permission.

Students accounted for 14,800 claims, or 36 per cent of this group ¨C the single largest category.?Although down from 16,500 the year before, the number of visa holder asylum claims has tripled over the past three years.

The UCU condemned the move, accusing Labour of chasing Reform UK on immigration policy.

Jo Grady, the union¡¯s general secretary, said: ¡°This attack on international students has very little to do with visa overstays and everything to do with aping Reform. With Farage talking up mass deportations and migrant prison camps, Labour continuing to demonise immigrants and refugees isn¡¯t just immoral, it¡¯s political suicide.

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¡°Labour will never outflank Reform on division and bigotry. They should instead be making the case for a welcoming and economically strong Britain, of which international students and a world-leading higher education sector are an integral part.¡±

The Home Office said the measures were part of a wider effort to make the asylum system ¡°ordered and controlled again¡±.

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tash.mosheim@timeshighereducation.com