Suspension Of Student Visas: British High Commissioner To Cameroon Clarifies

On March 3, 2026 the British government for the first time released a communique suspending the issuing of student visas to nationals of 4 countries including Cameroon (Afghanistan, Myanmar and South Sudan), in what is now known as an “Emergency Brake”, following a drastic increase in asylum claims from legal routes. The press release signed by the British Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, stated that, the “UK’s Generosity was being abused” by some, pushing them to halt applications for study visas. Between 2021 and 2025 asylum applications by students from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan rocketed by over 470 percent. Many are then accommodated at taxpayer expense, with an above average proportion of people from these 4 countries claiming destitution. Asylum support is currently costing more than £4 billion a year with nearly 16,000 nationals from the 4 countries currently supported at public expense, including over 6,000 in hotels. To maintain the ability and proud tradition of helping those genuinely in need, the government has decided to take the bull by the horn by clamping down the visa abusers. Henceforth, tough actions will be deployed as asylum claims from legal routes have more than trebled. Since 2021 over 133,760 people who arrived the UK legally in the past 5 years demanded asylum with over 30 percent of them from Cameroon. Recently, claims by students from Cam...