Six students from Sudan and Afghanistan have accused the UK 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.

Their letter also accuses the home secretary of racial discrimination and of failing to provide any justification for differential treatment of students from these four countries.

They are calling on Mahmood to withdraw the visa brake or at least to suspend it for students due to come to the UK to start courses later this year.

The legal action states: “The unprecedented and harsh, directly racially discriminatory effect of this measure is to immediately terminate eligibility for sponsored study visas for all nationals from four countries.”

Home Office sources say study routes should not be the mechanism for claiming asylum, but critics say very few safe and legal alternatives exist.

Government sources said visa brakes may be applied to other countries where there is a high asylum risk.

According to lawyers for the students, dozens more from the four banned countries have contacted them expressing interest in joining the legal challenge.

The ban has financial implications for universities that have offered places to students now barred, as well as a major impact on the students’ career and life plans.

The universities may not be able to offer the currently vacated places to other students not affected by the study visa ban at such a late stage.

The letter cites countries unaffected by the ban with much larger numbers of students or others who come to the UK on visas and then go on to claim asylum, such as Pakistan, 89% of whose nationals who claim asylum come through a visa or similar route before making an asylum claim.

It claims that the home secretary has overlooked the profound impact of this measure on equality of opportunity for women from the banned countries, including those from Afghanistan where women and girls are denied access to secondary school and higher education because of Taliban rules.

Ahmed Aydeed, of Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors, who is representing the six students, said: “This racist study ban by the home secretary will do nothing but detract the brightest in the world from studying in the UK.

“This government has abandoned a purposive and evidence-based approach to lawmaking.”

A government spokesperson said: “Study routes are being widely abused, creating a backdoor to claim asylum into this country. That is why we are taking unprecedented action to suspend routes from four countries.

“And while we remain committed to expanding safe and legal routes to those fleeing persecution and welcoming the brightest talent in a fair and managed way, we cannot allow exceptions to study routes to prevent further abuse of our migration system.

“We consider visa brakes to be lawful and will defend any legal challenge robustly.” (The Guardian UK, but headline rejigged)

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