Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of visa holders who have left the UK prior to the expiry of their visa in each of the last five years.

The government has launched a direct messaging campaign to remind students their visas are expiring. The first-of-its-kind communication comes during the autumn period where asylum applications typically spike and is part of continued Home Office measures to improve visa compliance.

Nearly 10,000 students and dependants received the guidance, with thousands more expected to receive it over the coming weeks as their visa expiry dates approach. It warns that claims without merit will be swiftly and robustly refused, and those without a legal right to remain in the UK must leave or face removal.

Information on completeness of exit checks data are found within the statistical reports and the ‘Home Office statistics on exit checks: user guide’. The most recent developments are found in the ‘Developments in Exit Checks’.

The Home Office does not compile statistics on the number of people who overstay their visa. The Home Office has previously published statistics on the number of visa holders who have left the UK prior to expiry of their visa in the Reports on statistics relating to exit checks. This release covers the period from the year ending March 2017 to the year ending March 2020.