UK varsities withdraw admissions of Nigerian students amid visa crackdown

Some universities in the United Kingdom have withdrawn admission offers made to Nigerian students following a visa crackdown by the British government targeting international applicants.

The affected admissions were revoked in the first half of 2026, with Nigerian and Pakistani students reportedly making up a large proportion of those affected.

The decision followed tighter visa rules introduced by the UK Home Office for international students.

According to a Financial Times report published on Saturday, a study found that 10.5 per cent of UK study visa applications were withdrawn during the period under review.

This represents a sharp increase from 2.3 per cent recorded during the same period in 2025 and 0.4 per cent in 2023, highlighting the growing impact of the UK government’s stricter immigration measures on international student applications.

“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 stated.

The Financial Times noted that the institutions clarified 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.

The report stated that 22.7 per cent of study visa applications from Nigeria were withdrawn in the first half of this year, compared to 4.5 per cent in the first half of 2025.

“While visa applications can be withdrawn for other reasons, universities said the main driver had been an increase in their revoking offers,” it added.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 British publication further stated that 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 per cent threshold, which could lead to a ban on recruiting international students.

Speaking on the repercussions of the visa revocations, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sunderland, Sir David Bell, said, “This has involved pulling back from international markets where a tougher approach is being taken to visa applications”.

Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of University Alliance, a group of 20 professional and technical universities, warned, “This is going to result in restructures, which inevitably result in job losses, course closures, campus closures”.

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