The United Kingdom’s Home Office has revoked the visas of several Nigerian nurses under investigation for alleged examination malpractice, ordering them to leave the country.

Reports from Nursing Times indicate that the affected nurses, whose appeals are still pending, have received official letters instructing them to depart the UK starting next week.

The deportation order stems from an ongoing probe by the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) into suspected fraud at Yunnik Technologies Test Centre in Ibadan, Nigeria. The investigation, launched in 2023, followed the detection of “anomalous data” in the computer-based test (CBT) for foreign-trained nurses seeking UK registration.

The CBT, a crucial component of the UK’s nursing qualification process, is typically conducted in applicants’ home countries. Findings from the NMC revealed that 48 registered nurses and 669 applicants might have fraudulently obtained their test results, leading to the invalidation of all test results from the Yunnik centre.

To determine whether malpractice occurred, the NMC assigned independent panels to assess the affected individuals. However, in February 2025, about 50 of them filed a pre-action protocol letter against the NMC, accusing the council of deliberately delaying their hearings. They also called for collaboration between the NMC and the Home Office to allow them to remain in the UK while their appeals were ongoing.

Despite these pleas, the Home Office has moved to enforce their deportation, a decision that could have far-reaching consequences for Nigerian healthcare professionals seeking opportunities abroad.