Myanmar students face ‘uncertainty’ after UK student visa suspension

Myanmar students who have been planning to study in the U.K and already received admission offers from British universities told DVB that they are facing “uncertainty” and visa delays after London suspended student visa applications from four countries, including Myanmar, on Tuesday.

“People who have already applied and are about to go are facing huge difficulties. It’s really sad to see so many opportunities lost,” a Myanmar graduate currently studying at a university in the U.K. told DVB.

The U.K. embassy in Yangon announced a temporary suspension of student visa processing for applicants from Myanmar, as well as Afghanistan, Cameroon and Sudan, calling it a “visa brake.”

The embassy did not add when visa processing would resume.

The U.K. Home Office stated asylum applications by students from the four countries increased more than five times from 2021 to 2025, but did not provide a country-by-country breakdown. It also stated that asylum claims by Afghan nationals on work visas now exceed the number of visas issued.

“Even those who have secured scholarships and have universities making full arrangements for them have been facing difficulties and are unable to get visas,” Su Nyaing Aung, who is based in the U.K. and helps Myanmar nationals with asylum applications, told DVB.

She added that many Myanmar students have struggled to obtain visas following the 2021 military coup even after securing scholarships and admission to universities in the U.K.

“They said the reason for the suspension is the increase in asylum applications. But I think compared to countries like Afghanistan, the percentage from Myanmar is actually very small,” Su Nyaing Aung added.

The U.K Home Office added that it intends to create “safe and legal routes” once the asylum system stabilizes, referring to limited refugee resettlement schemes or humanitarian visas that allow people fleeing conflict or persecution to enter the country legally, rather than claiming asylum after arriving on student or work visas.

“Britain will always provide refuge to people fleeing war and persecution, but our visa system must not be abused,” Shabana Mahmood, the secretary of the U.K Home Office, said in a statement on March 3.

Human rights monitoring group Burma Campaign UK called this “cruel and shortsighted.”

“The opportunity to come to the U.K. to study is life-changing for the individual student but also an investment in the future of Myanmar, as people will use new skills to help their country in the future,” said Zoya Phan, the programme director at Burma Campaign UK.

The U.K government said nearly 16,000 nationals from the four countries are currently being supported at the public expense, including more than 6,000 staying in hotels. It estimated that the cost of asylum accommodation has reached four billion GBP ($5.34 billion USD) per year.

In June, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation restricting the entry of nationals from 12 countries, including Myanmar, citing national security and public safety threats.

A 2025 survey by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) states that 40 percent of Myanmar’s youth, aged 15 to 35, who make up over one-third of the country’s population, want to leave the country.

Another 75 percent of young adults reported disruption to their education, forcing many to drop out of school since the military coup on Feb. 1, 2021.

The U.N. report added that for many young people, migration is no longer a choice for a better life but a necessity for survival amid rising unemployment and economic decline in Myanmar.

The number of young people seeking to leave Myanmar increased after the regime enforced the military conscription law on Feb. 10 2024, which stipulates all males aged 18 to 35 and females aged 18 to 27 must serve at least two years.

The U.N estimates that 3.7 million people have been displaced from their homes, as fighting between regime and resistance forces has spread across the country since the uprising to the 2021 coup began.