UK universities are revoking admission offers to students from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria and other countries as tighter visa rules threaten to ban institutions from recruiting overseas students, the Financial Times reports.
Under rules tightened in September, universities where more than 5 percent of prospective international students have their visa applications rejected risk losing their licence to recruit overseas -- down from the previous 10 percent threshold.
Data from visa processing firm Enroly suggests nearly half of UK universities already exceed that limit, with students from almost 15 countries affected by the crackdown.
In the first half of 2026, 10.5 percent of UK study visa applications were withdrawn, up from 2.3 percent in the same period last year and just 0.4 percent in 2023, according to an Financial Times analysis of Home Office data.
The Home Office also doubled the number of outright study visa refusals in the first six months of 2026 compared with the same period last year.
The surge has been concentrated among nationals of countries the government suspects of using the student visa route to make asylum claims.
Withdrawal rates have risen most steeply for Pakistani applicants, jumping to 40.9 percent from 3 percent a year earlier. Bangladesh’s rate climbed from 7.1 percent to 23.5 percent, Nigeria’s from 4.5 percent to 22.7 percent, and India’s from 1.2 percent to 5.2 percent.
Around 15 universities are thought to have suspended Pakistani recruitment entirely this year.
Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor of the University of Sunderland, told the Financial Times the spike in refusals had prompted “pre-emptive action in several universities”, including pulling back from international markets facing tougher visa scrutiny.
Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, said visa processing had become “markedly less predictable”, with many refusals resting on “flawed, inconsistent and highly subjective reasoning, forcing universities to withdraw offers at scale.”
Professor James Miller, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland, warned the crackdown was “harming the UK’s reputation” and told the Financial Times many universities faced a drop of more than 20 percent in overseas student numbers this year, making job cuts “inevitable”.
The Home Office said universities must not recruit “at the expense of protecting the integrity” of the immigration system.