Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many people from (1) Afghanistan, (2) Cameroon, (3) Myanmar, (4) Sudan, (5) China, and (6) Nigeria, are in the UK on student visas.

The Home Office publishes data on entry clearance visas and in-country extensions by visa type and nationality in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Table 1 contains data on the requested nationalities for sponsored study visa grants and table 2 contains data on the requested nationalities for extensions on sponsored study visas. The data provided is for main applicants and dependants. Not everyone granted a visa, or extension, will currently be in the UK. The latest data is up to the end of December 2025.

The Home Office publishes the Migrant Journey report which provides data on the number of individuals who hold valid Study-related leave, by nationality, at the end of a given year within their immigration journey. Data on the number of migrants holding valid leave on a study route at the end of a given year are published in table MJ_D01 of the Migrant Journey detailed dataset and table 3. Not everyone with valid leave will currently be in the UK – the dataset counts people with valid immigration status rather than confirmed presence in the country. The latest data is up to the end of December 2024.

Table 1 – Grants on Sponsored Study Student visas, year ending 2021 to year ending 2025

Table 2 – Grants on Sponsored Study Student extensions, year ending 2021 to year ending 2025

Table 3 – Number of journeys where an individual held sponsored study leave at the end of 2024