2,715 Indians are being held for violating immigration laws, while Indian student visas to the UK are declining. According to the most recent Home Office data issued on Thursday, the number of Indian students given visas to study at UK universities has been declining, with the majority choosing post-graduate degrees.
In the year ending June 2025, Chinese students received the second-highest number of visa grants (99,919), followed closely by Indian students (98,014).
However, overall numbers for both nationalities decreased by 11% and 7%, respectively, from the previous year.
“Students pursuing Master’s degrees have been the primary drivers of the recent surge in sponsored study visas. Compared to slightly more than half (59%) of Chinese students, four out of five (81%) Indian students travelled to the UK in the year ending March 2025 to pursue a Master’s level degree, according to the Home Office.
The number of Indian nationals in jail has nearly doubled in the last year, according to new figures issued to emphasise the number detained as part of a larger crackdown on illegal immigration.
Since 2022, Albanians have been the most frequently detained nationality, but their numbers have been declining. In the past year, the percentage of Brazilian and Indian nationals has doubled (up 91% and 108%, respectively), according to the Home Office.
The bulk of the 2,715 Indians who were recorded as being in jail due to the UK’s immigration law violation were freed on bond, according to its data.
111,000 asylum claims were made in the UK in the year ending in June 2025, the most since similar records started in 1979, according to the most recent UK government statistics.
Recent weeks have seen a marked increase in attention to the asylum issue as opposition parties continue to put pressure on the Labour government to expedite deportations and the Home Office lost a significant legal battle over lodging asylum seekers in hotels.
Due mostly to fewer work visas being granted—a category that has historically been dominated by Indians—the overall number of immigrants, both legal and illegal, fell by 30% from the previous 12 months.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stated, “With a 48% decrease in work visas this year, we are bringing legal migration back under control. Stronger visa controls and higher skill requirements introduced through our White Paper are expected to bring those overall numbers down further.”
The Migration Observatory, based at the University of Oxford, examined Home Office data on asylum requests and found that since Brexit five years ago, the number of claims from those with work or study visas has increased.
Indians came in sixth place among claimants who had previously entered the UK with a valid visa, followed by Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.
“There are a number of possible reasons for the recent surge in asylum requests, but there isn’t enough data to determine which has been the most significant. The Migration Observatory’s director, Dr. Madeleine Sumption, listed these as “increasing smuggling activity (particularly across the English Channel), more people claiming asylum after arriving on visas, and more pending and recently denied asylum seekers in Europe.”
The decline in visas granted to dependent family members of skilled professionals and students who adhere to stricter government regulations is mostly responsible for the 403,000, or 32%, decrease in visas overall over the previous year.
“As the data catches up with more recent restrictions like the closure of the care worker route to overseas recruitment, it’s possible we’ll see further declines in the coming months – though probably smaller ones,” said Dr. Ben Brindle, a researcher at the Migration Observatory.