UK Drops Immigration Bomb: Nigerian Students in Desperate Scramble as Deportation Looms

The United Kingdom’s Home Office has initiated a major and unprecedented campaign, directly contacting international students via text and email to deliver a stark warning: leave the country or face deportation. This aggressive move, which has sent shockwaves through the Nigerian student community, is part of a broader government effort to curb a perceived misuse of the asylum system.

The campaign comes in the wake of a significant increase in asylum applications from individuals who first entered the UK on legal visas. According to official figures, asylum claims from visa holders—including students—have more than tripled since 2022, accounting for over 40% of all claims in the year ending June 2025. In response, the Home Office has already messaged nearly 10,000 students and their dependents nearing the end of their visas, with tens of thousands more to be contacted in the coming weeks.

The message is unambiguous: “If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave. If you don’t, we will remove you.”

This new hardline stance is coinciding with recent changes to immigration policy that have made it more difficult for foreign graduates to remain in the UK. The post-study work visa has been shortened from a two-year period to just 18 months, giving students a drastically reduced window to find a sponsored job. Furthermore, new rules prohibit fresh student visa holders from switching to a skilled worker visa on the “shortage occupation list.”

The new policies have plunged many Nigerian students into a state of anxiety and uncertainty. One doctoral student, speaking to the press, confessed that he had to abandon his postgraduate studies and switch to a skilled worker visa to secure his future. When asked if he would consider returning to Nigeria, he defiantly replied, “Hell, no. Not with the crippling inflation.”

While some experts argue that every visa has a purpose and the UK has a right to enforce its laws, others question the morality of the policies. Critics suggest that the government is treating international students as “a commodity that you can exploit and dispense after you’ve taken money from them, with a promissory note that if they graduate from your system, they can get a job in your system and possibly residency.”

With the new visa rules tightening and the threat of deportation looming, the scramble for sponsored jobs among Nigerian students in the UK has reached a fever pitch.