Reverse the visa brake on student visa applications from Afghan nationals

Reverse the visa brake on student visa applications from Afghan nationals — 138 signatures. Status: open.

Petition background

Reverse the visa brake on Afghan student visa applications. In 2025, only 277 Afghan students received UK visas, 0.07% of all student visas. This is not an unsustainable crisis. We ask the Government to restore fair, safe educational pathways for students fleeing Taliban rule.

Additional details

Afghan women can't attend university under the Taliban. Now they get student visas for the UK either. This double exclusion affects real people with real futures. In 2021, the Taliban banned girls from school and then from university. We think the visa brake eliminates one of the few remaining safe routes & that the UK has the moral obligation to maintain pathways for students fleeing authoritarian regimes. Education is a right, not a privilege. Reversing the visa brake upholds that principle.

View this petition on the official UK Parliament website

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