Nigerian students are increasingly seeking higher education in the United Kingdom, with 30,204 study visas granted in the year ending December 2025, a 59% increase compared to 2024.
This information comes from the latest Home Office report on UK visa applications and outcomes.
The figures place Nigeria among the fastest-growing nationalities for UK study visas in 2025.
According to the report, Nigeria recorded 30,204 study visas in the year ending December 2025, placing it just behind Pakistan, which ranked third with 30,781 visas.
Indian nationals received the highest number of sponsored study visas with 95,231 grants (23% of total), while Chinese students followed with 89,019 visas (22%), although this represented a 15% decline from the previous year and 34% below their peak in September 2021.
Nigerian nationals were among the leading groups granted study-related extensions in the UK in the year ending December 2025.
A total of 3,894 Nigerians already in the UK were approved to extend their stay on the student route, enabling them to continue their studies or, for those not previously on a student visa, to switch onto a sponsored study programme.
This number, combined with extensions for Chinese (11,076) and Indian (5,968) nationals, accounted for over half of all study-related extensions granted during the period. Overall, 34,538 main applicants in the UK received extensions to continue their studies, a 5% decline from the previous year.
The application process, including biometric submission at visa centres, remains unchanged. The rollout follows earlier reforms that began transitioning study and work visa applicants to digital records in 2025.