¡°Nothing is off the table¡± on student visas now the UK government is coming under renewed pressure to appear tough on immigration following big gains by the Reform Party in local elections, universities have been warned.

With a long-awaited White Paper on immigration policy expected to finally be published next week, policymakers are thought to be considering reforms including limiting visas for prospective students from countries most likely to attempt to claim asylum.

The 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Office is set to restrict applications from Pakistanis, Nigerians and Sri Lankans in a blow to universities reliant on international student fees, according to ?¨C the latest to report that further restrictions on overseas enrolments will be included in ministers¡¯ plans.

It is also looking at changing the post-study work visa, which currently allows international graduates to stay and work in the UK for at least two years. The government is thought to be weighing up introducing a threshold based on either skills or salary, which would limit the number of students eligible for the visa.

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Prime minister Keir Starmer has reiterated his pledge to reduce immigration numbers after the right-wing Reform Party took control of?10 local councils in May¡¯s elections, while Labour lost more than 180 councillors.

¡°To prepare the ground for the next general election and stop Reform encroaching further into its voter base, Sir Keir Starmer¡¯s Labour government will be looking for headline-grabbing ways to show it is delivering on its pledges to get a grip on migration and reduce reliance on overseas workers,¡± said Diana Beech, director of the Finsbury Institute at City St George¡¯s, 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of London.

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¡°As such, until the immigration White Paper is published, nothing is off the table and universities should be taking seriously any proposals to tie the post-study work entitlement to specific salary thresholds or impose quotas for certain nationalities, however counterintuitive and damaging they may seem to the sector.¡±

Any changes to student visa policies are likely to harm British universities, which are already suffering financially, partially as a result of reforms to student dependant visas under the previous Conservative government.

There were 57,505 Nigerians, 45,720 Pakistanis and 7,250 Sri Lankans studying at UK universities in the 2023-24 academic year, making up 15 per cent of all international students in that year.

Both Nigeria and Pakistan were named as ¡°headline markets¡± for student recruitment in the UK¡¯s most recent international education strategy, which is currently being refreshed.

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Writing for Times Higher Education, James Pitman, chair of Independent Higher Education and managing director (UK and Europe) for Study Group, said that ¡°although the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Office is quick to claim it has been developing these plans for months, and arguably much longer than that, the context of this is viscerally political¡±.

¡°Many had hoped that the positive rhetoric of the current government and education secretary would have resulted in growth, but sadly it appears the reverse is about to be meted out by the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ Office in direct opposition to most other departments of government, who by and large are well aware of the damaging impacts that will inevitably result.¡±

However, Beech said there was still hope for universities hoping to change the government¡¯s mind, given the ¡°eleventh-hour reprieves¡± that have happened in recent history ¡°when further immigration restrictions were avoided as key arguments cut through¡±.

In 2023, the Conservative government stopped short of changing the graduate route, despite former home secretary Suella Braverman pushing to scrap the visa entirely.

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Last year, the Migration Advisory Committee recommended maintaining the visa route unchanged after the body's review found no evidence of widespread abuse.

¡°There is, therefore, always hope that messages will reach the ears of those in power, so the sector would do well to continue making the case for why international education exports matter ¨C and finding advocates across society to amplify the chorus,¡± Beech said.

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helen.packer@timeshighereducation.com