UK universities withdraw offers to Nigerian applicants amid visa crackdown

Some UK universities have withdrawn admission offers to Nigerian applicants as tighter student-visa controls put their international recruitment under pressure.

The withdrawals affected offers made largely to Nigerian and Pakistani applicants in the first half of 2026. Universities linked the decisions to rising visa refusals and fears that they could lose permission to recruit international students.

According to Financial Times reporting cited by Punch and Daily Trust, 22.7 per cent of study visa applications from Nigeria were withdrawn in the first half of 2026, compared with 4.5 per cent in the same period of 2025.

That figure measures withdrawn visa applications, not the proportion of Nigerian applicants refused a visa or the number whose admission offers were cancelled. Applications can be withdrawn for several reasons, although universities identified their withdrawal of offers as the main driver of the increase.

Across UK study visa applications, the reported withdrawal rate rose to 10.5 per cent in the first half of 2026, from 2.3 per cent a year earlier and 0.4 per cent in 2023.

The Financial Times account said Home Office study visa refusals had doubled during the first six months of 2026. Data attributed to visa-application processing firm Enroly indicated that nearly half of universities had refusal rates above a five per cent threshold, putting their ability to recruit overseas students at risk.

Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor of the University of Sunderland, described the effect on recruitment: “This has involved pulling back from international markets where a tougher approach is being taken to visa applications”.

Vanessa Wilson, chief executive of University Alliance, a group of 20 professional and technical universities, warned that the financial effects could reach staff and academic provision.

“This is going to result in restructures, which inevitably result in job losses, course closures, campus closures,” she said.

Sources: Punch, Daily Trust