What we know about Labour's planned changes to immigration rules
The government is reportedly going to crack down on visa applications from people from nations known to often overstay. (Getty)
The government is reportedly planning to restrict visa applications for people from countries that have the highest rate of visa overstays in the UK.
According to The Times, the Home Office is planning to tighten applications for work and study visas for migrants most likely to overstay, judged on where they are from, including countries such as Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.
It has been suggested that a particular issue is when people come to the UK legally on work or study visas but go on to lodge claims for asylum in order to stay in the country permanently.
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The government is set to publish an immigration white paper in the coming weeks as part of its plan to overhaul what it has called the "broken immigration system".
A Home Office spokesperson said in response: 'To tackle abuse by foreign nationals who arrive on work and study visas and go on to claim asylum, we are building intelligence on the profile of these individuals to identify them earlier and faster.
'We keep the visa system under constant review and will where we detect trends, which may undermine our immigration rules, we will not hesitate to take action.
'Under our plan for change, our upcoming immigration white paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system.'
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Reports have suggested that the Home Office plans to work with the National Crime Agency to build a model that would help caseworkers identify people who are most likely to use work and study visas to go on to claim asylum, but experts have questioned whether this is realistic or possible.
What has the reaction been?
Prof Jonathan Portes, a senior fellow at the academic think tank UK in a Changing Europe, told the BBC that the impact of restricting visas would have on the number of asylum applications was "likely to be quite small".
"I think the impact here is not designed primarily to be about numbers overall, it's designed to be about reducing asylum claims which are perceived to be abusive," he told Radio 4's Today programme. "When you have someone who comes here ostensibly as a student and then switches quickly to the asylum route... that is an abuse of the system - the government is trying to reduce that."
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Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, told The Guardian it would be difficult create a model to identify people planning to exploit visa and asylum rules.
She told the newspaper: 'Whether it's effective will depend on whether patterns are obvious enough for them to accurately be able to do it, or whether it will lead to some more arbitrary outcomes. Without being on the inside, it really is difficult to know."
Labour had previously committed to making changes to the immigration system, but the government will undoubtedly be feeling greater pressure following Reform's success in last week's local elections.
Immigration is one of Reform's key talking points, and the party has pledged to implement a freeze on non-essential immigration.
48% of Britons say that immigration is one of the top issues facing the country, the joint-highest level since the election
Economy: 52% (-2 from 26-28 Apr)
Immigration: 48% (+4)
Health: 36% (-1)
Crime: 22% (-1)
Defence: 20% (-2)
Housing: 20% (=)
Environment: 15% (-2)
Tax: 14%… pic.twitter.com/wC17IAEHlF
— YouGov (@YouGov) May 6, 2025
Research by YouGov also suggests that immigration is growing in importance as an issue, becoming increasingly key to voters since 2020 and has now hit its highest level since the election according to YouGov's 'most important issue' tracker.
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Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the situation faced by many people was complicated.
'In an increasingly volatile world some people on work or study visas may find their lives at risk because the political situation in their home country has changed. It is right that they are protected from harm and given a fair hearing in the asylum system as well as being provided with basic support if they need it," he said.
'To restrict access to seeking asylum based on a person's nationality would not only be unfair but also discriminatory.
'Right, first-time decision-making will ensure refugees are given safety to go on to contribute to communities across the country and those who don't have a right to stay in the UK are removed in an orderly and humane way.'
What's happening to the net migration in the UK?
In January, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) projected that the UK population could grow by almost five million over the next decade to reach 72.5 million by mid-2032 because of net migration.
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It said the rise from 67.6 million in mid-2022 would be driven almost entirely by net migration, with the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving the country estimated to total 4.9 million over the 10-year period.
This is compared to the natural change in population – the difference between births and deaths – projected to be 'around zero'.
UK population. See story POLITICS Population. Infographic PA Graphics. An editable version of this graphic is available if required. Please contact graphics@pamediagroup.com.
At the time, shadow home secretary Chris Philp described the projection as 'shocking and unacceptable', adding: 'It can and must be stopped from materialising' as he called for a 'hard, binding legal cap on visas issued each year'.
But Keir Starmer ruled out setting an 'arbitrary' cap, with Downing Street instead vowing the government would set out a 'comprehensive plan' to significantly reduce migration.
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Despite a projected rise in net migration, figures suggest that migration levels across key visa routes have fallen sharply since late 2023.
Migration levels across key visa routes. (IPPR)
Figures released last month indicated that the number of migrants applying for key visa routes into the UK had dropped by more than a third in a year.
Applications across the worker, study, and family visa categories covered a total of 772,200 people in the year to March 2025, down 37% on the nearly 1.24 million in the previous 12 months, according to the Home Office data.
Data published by the Home Office in March suggests that 3.1 million visas were granted in total in 2024, allowing individuals to come to the UK to visit, work, study or join family members.
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It said: "As noted in the Home Office Immigration System Statistics, some asylum seekers claim asylum immediately upon arrival to the UK, while others may have been present in the UK some time prior to making an asylum claim.
"Some arrivals on legal visa routes may find during or at the end of their leave that they are unable, or unwilling, to return to their country of origin and therefore claim asylum in the UK."
It said that Immigration System Statistics, year ending December 2024 release showed that of the 108,000 people claiming asylum in 2024, just under a third (35,000) had arrived on a small boat without a permission to enter, while slightly more than a third (40,000) had travelled on a visa.
In an article published on 6 May, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said the government would have to carry out "a careful balancing act over immigration policy, with different departments pulling in different directions".
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It said: "This is a familiar challenge: prime ministers have often had to navigate disagreements between the Treasury – as well as other departments in favour of liberalising visa rules to further their own priorities – and the Home Office, which is focused on tightening rules up to manage numbers and prevent abuse."
The IPPR said the situation underlines the need for an annual migration plan, to develop a "coordinated cross-government approach to managing trade-offs on migration policy".
What are the requirements to emigrate to the UK?
There are a number of visas and immigration routes available for people wanting to immigrate and settle in the UK, including business visas, work visas, family-based visas and other visas that target more specific and niche routes to immigration, according to TotalLaw.
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According to the company, the main way of settling in the UK involves applying for one of these long-term visas and eventually applying for permanent settlement, which is also known as 'indefinite leave to remain'.
If someone applies for asylum in the UK, a successful claim can result in them being granted refugee status for five years. After that period, they can then apply for indefinite leave to remain.
The suggestion is that some people are coming to the UK on specific visas - meaning they would only be able to stay for a specific time - but then applying for asylum as a way of remaining permanently.
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