Thousands of international students, including Nigerians, in the UK are being directly contacted by the government and warned not to overstay their visas to avoid deportation.

“Tens of thousands of foreign students are being contacted directly by the government and told they will be removed from the UK if they overstay their visas,” the BBC reported on Tuesday.

To tackle the “alarming” increase in the number of international students claiming asylum at the expiration of their visas, the UK Home Office has launched a campaign, beginning with sending emails and texts to international students against overstaying their visas.

Yvette Cooper, UK Home Secretary, in an interview with the BBC, raised the alarm about the number of international students claiming asylum “even when things haven’t changed in their home country.”

According to Home Office statistics, about 14,800 — 13% of asylum applications in the UK between January and June — were by people who entered the country via study visas.

The campaign against international students filing for asylum after their visas expire comes after UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, threatened that foreigners working illegally in the country would be arrested, detained, and deported.

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Mr Starmer gave a stern warning, saying: “My message is clear: Illegal entry means detention. Illegal work means arrest. Foreign national offenders will be deported.”

In May, barely three days after the Conservative Party’s leader, Kemi Badenoch, called for the adoption of the “deportation bill,” Mr Starmer announced the end of Britain’s open border policy, introducing stringent visa rules and a compulsory English test for all applicants, among other measures.

Prior to this announcement, UK authorities ended the recruitment of caregivers from Nigeria and other parts of the world, describing it as subject to abuse and exploitation, and blocked over 100 occupations from its immigration system.