Six students challenge Home Office visa ban on four countries

Sudanese and Afghan students with offers to study in UK say government’s ‘emergency brake’ is discriminatory The women banned from studying in Britain Six students from Sudan and Afghanistan have accused the home secretary of racial discrimination and launched legal action to try to overturn a ban on them taking up university places in the UK. The students – five from Sudan and one from Afghanistan – have undergraduate degrees in medicine and science-based subjects and received offers from universities including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College London. However, this month the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced a ban on student visas for people from Sudan, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Cameroon, which will come into force on 26 March. The “emergency brake” on visas has been imposed after a surge in asylum claims from people “in country” after finishing their studies. The Home Office said applications by students from the four countries rose by more than 470% between 2021 and 2025. The six students claim in a letter before action that the decision to bar students from four countries only is unlawful, irrational, a violation of human rights laws and a misdirection of law. The