LONDON:
The British government can restrict visa requests from students living in countries, including Pakistan, which are considered to be the most likely to claim asylum in a decision designed to reduce annual net migration, said a government official.
This decision comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party was punished in local elections in England last week by angry voters, including illegal immigration.
The government is expected to publish a political document next week, known as the White Paper, which will explain how the government plans to reduce net migration, which reached 728,000 people from last year.
“Our next white book on immigration will set out a full plan to restore order to our broken immigration system,” the Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.
High levels of legal migration have long dominated the political conversation of Great Britain and were one of the main engines of the Brexit referendum in 2016.
Of the 108,000 people who claimed asylum in Great Britain last year, 16,000 student visas, according to government data. The government does not provide a break in the nationalities of those who had student visas, who then claimed asylum.
But the government said that the inhabitants of Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka were most likely to claim asylum in Britain after their arrival for a work, a student or a visitor visa.
In the aftermath of the poor results of the party’s local elections last week, some members of the Parliament urged the government to do more to adopt a more decisive approach on issues such as the reduction in net migration.
Jo White, who represents a group of legislators in Heartlands beforehand known as “Red Wall”, said the government should stop “Pussyfooting around”.
