Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the average administrative cost per asylum applicant of processing an asylum claim, including costs associated with interviews, interpretation, legal support and casework.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.
A breakdown of Asylum Costs and Productivity, is published in Table ASY_04 of the Immigration and Protection Data on GOV.UK: Migration transparency data - GOV.UK.
The latest published data indicates the total asylum cost was £4,757,226,306 for the financial year 2024/25. The average unit cost was £25,122 for an asylum claim in the financial year 2023/24.
The notes indicate the costs of managing an asylum claim include costs associated with deciding a case (screening clients, interviews and issuing a decision). However, they also include additional costs associated with appeals, support, detention, enforcement, staffing and buildings costs.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of immigration from people who do not have visa-free access to the UK in their home country but use golden visa arrangements to enter through a third-party country which does have visa-free agreements with the UK.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
‘Golden visas’ do not in themselves confer nationality, and thus do not automatically grant visa-free access to the UK. They grant residence in the issuing country only. While such schemes do carry risk as they can lead to the granting of citizenship over time, this typically requires a sustained period of lawful residence.
The UK’s visa system, including the Visa National List, is kept under regular review to ensure it operates in the national interest. Decisions on visa requirements, including which nationalities may travel visa-free or instead require permission (such as an Electronic Travel Authorisation), are based on a range of factors. These include security, compliance, returns cooperation and wider prosperity considerations.
Citizenship by Investment (CBI), or so-called “golden passport”, programmes differ from residence-based investment routes in that they offer a direct pathway to a new nationality, in some cases offering visa free access to the UK. The Government keeps the risks associated with such programmes under close review. Where appropriate, action is taken through the visa system. This has included the introduction of visit visa requirements for countries operating CBI programmes: Nauru (2025) and Saint Lucia (2026, principally for asylum abuse, with CBI a supporting factor).
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of Chevening Scholars have claimed asylum in the United Kingdom since 2019.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of people claiming asylum where the latest leave held prior to claim was a study visa is published in table Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The number of student entry clearance visas issued is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets'.
The requested information on asylum claims from Chevening scholars is not available from published statistics.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Sarah Champion (Labour - Rotherham)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Chevening Scholars have subsequently claimed asylum in the UK.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of people claiming asylum where the latest leave held prior to claim was a study visa is published in table Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The number of student entry clearance visas issued is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets'.
The requested information on asylum claims from Chevening scholars is not available from published statistics.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Chevening Scholars who have claimed asylum in each year between 2021 and 2025 broken down by home country.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of people claiming asylum where the latest leave held prior to claim was a study visa is published in table Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The number of student entry clearance visas issued is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets'.
The requested information on asylum claims from Chevening scholars is not available from published statistics.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Blake Stephenson (Conservative - Mid Bedfordshire)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to Parliamentary Question 104261 answered on 16 January 2026, whether the ‘net positive benefit to the public purse’ of the new Home Office English Language Test will be used to support management of budget pressures in the asylum system.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The financial benefits arising from the HOELT are expected to accrue to UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) budgets within the Home Office. Under the current concession model, test fees are retained by approved providers. The new model changes that financial relationship. Decisions on the use of any resulting savings will be subject to usual Home Office financial planning processes. Any income the Home Office receives from these fees will play an essential role in supporting the sustainable funding of the migration and borders system.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many of those in the UK on Skilled Worker and Study visa routes have gone on to claim asylum by nationality, per quarter for the last four quarters.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on visas and asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. The number of Skilled Worker and Study entry clearance visas and extensions, broken down by nationality, is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets' and table Exe_D01 of the 'Extensions datasets'. Data on asylum claims broken down by nationality or broken down by route of entry is available in table Asy_D01 and table Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The Home Office does not currently publish a full nationality breakdown for asylum claims by holders of Skilled Worker visas or study visas.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Monica Harding (Liberal Democrat - Esher and Walton)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of Chevening scholars from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan have claimed asylum in the United Kingdom following the completion of their scholarships.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on the number of people claiming asylum where the latest leave held prior to claim was a study visa is published in table Asy_D01a of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions datasets’. The number of student entry clearance visas issued is published in table Vis_D02 of the 'Entry clearance visas datasets'.
A full Impact Assessment has been published for the Visa Brake policy; see Table 1 for historic volumes of asylum claims linked to visa for the relevant nationalities and routes in scope of the Brake.
The requested information on asylum claims from Chevening scholars is not available from published statistics.
Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data. These reviews allow us to balance the production of our regular statistics whilst developing new statistics for future release.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she had with Cabinet colleagues prior to the recent decision concerning Sudanese student visas.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new International Education Strategy has confirmed this government's continued commitment to welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.
The government recognises the significant economic and cultural contribution that all international students make to the UK’s higher education sector.
We must, however, retain a robust immigration system which safeguards against exploitation. The government is therefore introducing targeted measures to help protect the integrity of the system, which may apply to study visas. These measures will apply where evidence shows a consistently high number and proportion of visa-linked asylum claims. Once in place, applications from the specified nationalities on the affected routes will be refused.
The government announced on 4 March that these measures would be imposed on nationals of four countries, including Sudan. This means that Sudanese nationals will not be awarded a study visa until the measures are lifted.
Asked by: Anneliese Dodds (Labour (Co-op) - Oxford East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the contribution of Sudanese students on Higher Education.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The new International Education Strategy has confirmed this government's continued commitment to welcome international students who meet the requirements to study in the UK.
The government recognises the significant economic and cultural contribution that all international students make to the UK’s higher education sector.
We must, however, retain a robust immigration system which safeguards against exploitation. The government is therefore introducing targeted measures to help protect the integrity of the system, which may apply to study visas. These measures will apply where evidence shows a consistently high number and proportion of visa-linked asylum claims. Once in place, applications from the specified nationalities on the affected routes will be refused.
The government announced on 4 March that these measures would be imposed on nationals of four countries, including Sudan. This means that Sudanese nationals will not be awarded a study visa until the measures are lifted.