UK Student Visa Rules Tighten: Universities Withdraw CAS Offers Amid 5% Visa Refusal Threshold
The UK government has tightened student visa compliance rules, putting universities at risk of losing their student sponsorship licences if more than 5% of prospective international students are refused visas, down from the previous 10% threshold.
The stricter UK student visa regulations have prompted universities to reassess international admissions and withdraw some Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) offers before visa applications are submitted.
According to the reported figures, 10.5% of UK student visa applications were withdrawn overall, with higher rates among applicants from Pakistan (40.9%), Nigeria (22.7%), and Bangladesh (23.5%). These developments have raised concerns among international students planning to study in the UK.
For students seeking UK university admission, understanding visa requirements, preparing accurate documentation, and demonstrating genuine study intentions are becoming increasingly important. Applicants should carefully review university admission conditions and current UK student visa requirements before proceeding.
Planning to study in the UK? Stay informed about student visa updates, university admission policies, and international education opportunities to make better-informed decisions about your future.
Source : The Hindu https://www.thehindu.com/education/how-the-changes-in-visa-policy-in-the-uk-and-canada-affect-indian-students/article71582083.ece
In the past three months Immigration New Zealand declined 70 percent of applications from Bangladesh and 39 percent from India – nearly double the normal rates.
That contributed to 6273 refusals for full-fee student applications from all countries in July, August, and September – close to the 7503 refusals recorded for the entire 12-month period of the 2025-26 financial year.
It also took the refusal rate for full-fee study visa applications from all sources to 34 percent, up from 13 percent in 2025-26.
Immigration New Zealand told RNZ a focus on applications to study master’s degrees contributed to the increase.
But immigration agents told RNZ the problem was driven by education agents in India and Bangladesh using sub-agents to process large numbers of applications.
They said some sub-agents submitted fraudulent or inaccurate financial information and the resulting crackdown by Immigration New Zealand was catching genuine students.
They also said agents who were not familiar with New Zealand’s requirements were suddenly trying to send students to New Zealand because countries including Canada and Australia had tightened their rules.
Decline rates have spiked before for India. Most recently in 2024 and also around 2016 when the use of sub-agents and fraudulent documents was a big problem.
Arunima Dhingra from Aims Global said she was in India last week where Immigration NZ staff told her there had been a spike in agents using fake documents to show students had enough money to support themselves.
“What immigration has been saying is with Bangladesh especially they’ve seen a spike in hundreds of fraudulent documents that have come through certain agents,” she said.
“The documents have been recirculated so agents have used the same documents and changed them for different students. So the funds essentially haven’t existed and there’s been a whole scam with the financial providers as well.”
Dhingra said that had prompted a crackdown, but it was heavy-handed.
“When the volumes increase and when the risk increases all the officers are told to be really careful because there’s a risk in this market and then they naturally get a lot tighter and there’s going to be some really genuine students that are also going to be collateral damage,”
Source: RNZ News https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/1915409/spike-in-refused-study-visa-applications