Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the number of prospective students from Cameroon, Myanmar, Afghanistan, and Sudan who have been unable to apply for student visas for the 2026–27 academic year as a result of restrictions on visa applications from nationals of those countries; and what assessment they have made of the impact of those restrictions on UK higher education institutions.

Applications for visas on the affected routes from the affected nationalities are now being refused. The Impact Assessment published during implementation of the visa brake sets out the forecasted impacts on Student visa applications for the affected nationalities. The latest public immigration statistics show that visa applications for the affected routes and nationalities in Q2 2026 have on average fallen by over 90% compared to Q4 2025.

We value the contribution of the higher education sector and continue to engage regularly with it, including Universities UK and the Russell Group, on the challenges the system faces. The visa brake is a temporary, evidence led measure but will only be lifted when the Government judges it appropriate to do so.