There are about 35,000 overseas students whom the Home Office accused of cheating in a government-approved English language test they were required to take as part of the process of applying for a renewal of their student visas. The allegations triggered a wave of dawn raids on student flats around the country.

About 2,500 students were subject to an enforced removal from the UK and another 7,500 left the country voluntarily after being warned that they faced arrest, detention and forced removal if they stayed. Thousands of those accused have spent years trying to prove their innocence.