The United Kingdom is clamping down on international students who are claiming asylum following the expiration of their visas.
The BBC reports that tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by text and email and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas.
The move, launched by the Home Office, is aimed at combating the increasing number of international students who legally arrived the country on student visas, but go on to claim asylum upon the expiration of those visas.
The BBC reports that according to data from the Home Office, around 13% of asylum applications in the UK in the year to June, around 14,800, came from people who arrived on a study visa.
However, the statistics doesn't break down the number of applications made from students who overstayed their visa.
In response to what it described as an "alarming" spike in the number of asylum-seeking international students, the government through the department had back in May announced plans to tighten laws seeking to buck the trend.
It is reported one of those laws include visa refusal and course completion rates that universities have to meet in order not to risk losing their ability to sponsor future visas are to be made stricter.
While speaking to the BBC, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said new applications for a scheme allowing refugees to bring their family members to the UK would be temporarily suspended.
Bemoaning international students who claim asylum "even when things haven't changed in their home country", Cooper noted "problems with asylum accommodation and hotels" caused by students entering and remaining in the asylum system for years.
"We obviously will do our bit to support genuine refugees but if nothing has changed in their country, people should not be claiming asylum at the end of a student course," she said.
According to the BBC, ten thousand international students whose visas are due to expire have already been contacted directly by text and email - warning them they could be deported, with tens of thousands more to receive the message in the coming months.
The full message will read: "If you submit an asylum claim that lacks merit, it will be swiftly and robustly refused.
"Any request for asylum support will be assessed against destitution criteria. If you do not meet the criteria, you will not receive support.
"If you have no legal right to remain in the UK, you must leave.
"If you don't, we will remove you."
According to the Home Office, 43,600 out of 111,084 asylum applications in the year to June came from people arriving on a small boat.
But a similar number, 41,100, had travelled to the UK legally through routes such as a work, study, or visitor visa.
