UK may restrict students from countries most likely to claim asylum

LONDON (Reuters) - The British government may restrict visa applications from students living in countries that are considered most likely to claim asylum in a move designed to bring down annual net migration, a government official said.

The move comes after Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Labour Party was punished in local elections in England last week by voters angry over issues, including illegal immigration.

The government is expected next week to publish a policy document, known as a white paper, which will set out how the government plans to reduce net migration, which reached 728,000 people in the year to June last year.

"Our upcoming Immigration White Paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system," the Home Office said in a statement.

High levels of legal migration have long dominated Britain's political conversation and were one of the major drivers for the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Out of the 108,000 people who claimed asylum in Britain last year, 16,000 had student visas, government data shows. The government does not provide a breakdown of the nationalities of those who had student visas, who went on to claim asylum.

But the government said people from Pakistan, Nigeria and Sri Lanka were the most likely to claim asylum in Britain after arriving on a work, student, or a visitor visa.

In the aftermath of the party's poor local election results last week, some Labour members of parliament urged the government to do more to take a more decisive approach on issues such as bringing down net migration.

Jo White, who represents a group of lawmakers in previously Labour heartlands known as the "Red Wall", said the government should stop "pussyfooting around".

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill; editing by Sarah Young)