Some universities in the United Kingdom have withdrawn admission offers to Nigerian students amid stricter student visa rules and a sharp increase in visa refusals by the UK Home Office.
According to the Financial Times, universities revoked offers made largely to Nigerian and Pakistani applicants in the first half of 2026 as they sought to avoid breaching immigration compliance rules that could prevent them from recruiting international students.
The report said 10.5 percent of UK study visa applications were withdrawn during the period, up from 2.3 percent in the first half of 2025 and 0.4 percent in 2023.
Nigeria recorded a sharp rise, with 22.7 percent of study visa applications from Nigerian applicants withdrawn in the first six months of 2026, compared with 4.5 percent in the corresponding period last year.
“Universities are revoking offers made to international applicants from countries including Nigeria and Pakistan en masse as they fear the UK government’s visa crackdown will result in a ban on their recruiting international students,” the Financial Times reported.
The publication said universities attributed the increase in withdrawals largely to a doubling of study visa refusals by the Home Office in the first half of 2026.
It added that the rise in refusals was linked to increased scrutiny of applicants from countries whose nationals the UK government suspects of using student visas as a route to claim asylum.
Data from visa processing firm, Enroly indicated that nearly half of UK universities had visa refusal rates above the five percent threshold that could put their ability to recruit international students at risk.
Jamie Arrowsmith, director of Universities UK International, said the visa process had become increasingly unpredictable.
“Visa processing has become markedly less predictable,” Arrowsmith said.
“Many refusals appear to rest on flawed, inconsistent and highly subjective reasoning, forcing universities to withdraw offers at scale to avoid breaching compliance thresholds.”
James Miller, Vice-Chancellor of the University of the West of Scotland and convener of Universities Scotland, described some visa refusals as “extremely spurious”.
He said the Home Office had given “no real explanation [for the increase] other than concern about number of students claiming asylum”.
Miller added that some universities had “stopped recruiting from certain geographical areas to keep refusal rates below 5 percent”.
Sir David Bell, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sunderland, said the tougher approach had prompted universities to reduce recruitment in some international markets.
“This has involved pulling back from international markets where a tougher approach is being taken to visa applications,” Bell said.
Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of University Alliance, which represents 20 professional and technical universities, warned that the situation could have wider consequences for the sector.
“This is going to result in restructures, which inevitably results in job losses, course closures, campus closures,” Wilson said.
The developments have created uncertainty for Nigerian students who had secured admission offers, while universities face pressure to keep visa refusal rates within the required limits to retain their ability to recruit students from overseas.