THE United States and Canada have lost their appeal to Nigerian students due to a raft of inimical visa policies that are simply meant to stop illegal immigrants. Currently, Nigerian students are beginning to seek admissions to African nations and Europe with flexible visa policies that allow foreigners to study and work for a few hours.

Since the beginning of Donald Trump‘s second term in January 2025, the U.S has tightened its immigration policy, particularly targeting international students. In May 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suspended the scheduling of new interviews for student visas (F, M, J) at all US embassies and consulates pending a review of verification procedures.

In August 2025, the State Department revoked more than 6,000 international student visas due to what it termed the ‘violations of U.S. law and overstays.’ President Trump had cancelled nearly 1,500 visas, including those of Nigerian students in the country.

In January 2024, the Home Office of the United Kingdom stopped Nigerian students as well as students from other nationals from bringing in dependents through the study visa route. Similarly, Canada has tightened its student visas against foreigners, limiting new study permits to 437,000 in 2025, which marked a 10 percent reduction, on the back of concerns that record-high enrolments were fuelling housing shortages. Applicants must now secure a provincial attestation letter confirming their place in the federal cap.

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As the U.S., UK and Canada take measures to limit students from coming in, Nigerian students and their parents say they now move to Africa and Europe in search of opportunties.

A Nigerian student, Mr Abel Chilaka, said he had preferred to study in the U.S. but could not secure a visa in 2025 due to the tight immigration policies by the Trump administration. He now studies in Istanbul Medipol University, Turkey.

“I tried to study in the U.S. but I could not get a visa,” he said. “The university had acepted me, but the visa officer said he wasn’t sure I would return to Nigeria after studies,” said Mr 24-year-old Chilaka, who said his parents had enough money to sponsor his master’s degree programme in any country.

Another student, Mr Temitope Akanni, who now studies in the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, said his parents were discouraged by the rules put in place by the UK government and opted for the South African institution.

“I wanted to study in the University of Manchester in the UK, but I changed my mind when I saw these restrictions last year. Incidentally, my present university offered me a chance and I took it. It’s still a world-class university and I am happy about the decision.”

From the beginning of 2025, Charles Ogemudia said he wanted to study in Canada, but his agent advised his parents to shun the country and opt for Europe. He is now a student in a university in France.

“I wanted to go to a university in Canada. It had always been my dream to study in the U.S. or Canada, but before processing my papers, my agent had told my parents to shun Canada for Europe, citing tough visa rules,” he said.

A travel agent, James Umeh, said several Nigerian students who came to him in 2025 were willing to shun major destinations such as the U.S., the UK and Canada for universities in Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Germany, Turkey, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, among others.

“Those nations are relatively easier for students now. They do not request students to have a lot of money in their accounts, nor do they think that all foreign students are coming in to study and live,” he said.

READ ALSO: Panic in United States as Trump cancels Nigerian students’ visas

New international student enrolment at U.S. colleges dropped sharply in fall of 2025, potentially costing the economy nearly $1 billion, Times of India reported in December 2025.

Home Office figures showed 16 percent fewer visa applications were made between July and September 2024 than in the same period in 2023. Several universities in these nations are scrambling to fill student places, with revenues dwindling from foreign sources.

Canada will issue a maximum of 408,000 study permits in 2026 under its international student cap, as international enrolment declines across universities. for the third consecutive fall term.

After last year’s decline of 27 percent for undergraduates reported in last year’s GEBS, Canadian universities reported a further 36 percent reduction in student enrolment, making a cumulative decline since 2023 of 53 percent, University of World News reported.

“In this year’s Global Enrolment Benchmark Survey (GEBS), American colleges reported a 6 percent decline in international undergraduates, erasing the 6 percent increase in the 2024 GEBS,” the University of World News further reported.

“The 19 percent decline in masters students, by far the largest category of international students in the country, enrolled in the 201 American universities reporting, was more than three times the size of last year’s decline.”