Sudanese Students Say UK Visa Ban Has Dashed Hopes of Studying at Top Universities

Sudanese scientists who have been promised research posts at leading UK universities have spoken of their “shock” and “sadness” that their hopes have been dashed after Shabana Mahmood’s decision to end study visas for people from their country.

More than 200 Sudanese postgraduates and undergraduates fear they will no longer be permitted to take up places at 46 universities, including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London, with some claiming that their lives have been torn apart by the home secretary’s “blunt” intervention.

On Wednesday, Mahmood suspended student visas for applicants from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan, saying she was “taking the unprecedented decision to refuse visas for those nationals seeking to exploit our generosity”.

“[Asylum] claims by students from Cameroon and Sudan spiked by more than 330%, posing an unsustainable threat to the UK’s asylum system,” a Home Office statement said.

Home Office sources said visa applications received from students in the four countries would be processed as usual until 26 March. However, it was “extremely unlikely” that they would also be able to acquire a valid “confirmation of acceptance for studies” before the cutoff.

Opponents say the government’s claims of visa exploitation are a distortion, given that just 120 Sudanese students applied for asylum in the year up to September, out of a total of more than 110,000 asylum claims.

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Students from Sudan have launched a campaign to lobby the UK government to abandon its plans. So far, they have identified 210 students from Sudan – 23 of whom are undergraduates – whose offers from 46 UK universities are now in doubt after Mahmood’s intervention.

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