- UK government looks to reduce net migration figures.
- We building intelligence on certain profiles, says Home Office.
- Labour says migration “must be properly controlled, managed”.
LONDON: The United Kingdom is planning on restricting visa applications from nationalities considered most likely to overstay and claim asylum, a report has suggested.
Applications for work and study visas from citizens of certain countries including Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka could be curbed by the Home Office, according to the Times newspaper.
The paper reported that the plans will be announced as part of the Immigration White Paper shortly, as the government looks to reduce net migration figures.
Labour promised in its manifesto that it would bring down the numbers. The party said that the overall level of net migration “must be properly controlled and managed”.
“Failure to do so reduces the incentives for businesses to train locally,” it added.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “To tackle abuse by foreign nationals who arrive on work and study visas and go on to claim asylum, we are building intelligence on the profile of these individuals to identify them earlier and faster.
“We keep the visa system under constant review and will where we detect trends, which may undermine our immigration rules, we will not hesitate to take action.
“Under our plan for change, our upcoming Immigration White Paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system.”
Figures released last month indicated that the number of migrants applying for key visa routes into the UK had dropped by more than a third in a year.
Applications across the worker, study, and family visa categories covered a total of 772,200 people in the year to March 2025, down 37% on the nearly 1.24 million in the previous 12 months, according to the Home Office data.
The decline is likely to reflect changes in legal migration rules introduced early in 2024 by the previous Conservative government, including a ban on overseas care workers and students bringing family dependents, and a steep rise in the salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700.
