THE University of York may be facing a major rent strike after it warned international students that their 'immigration status' could be at risk if they failed to pay their rent.

The 'York Student Solidarity Network' claimed this was a threat of deportation and said it was calling for a mass rent strike in solidarity with the students, but the university said it 'strongly rejected' the suggestion that any student had been threatened with deportation.

The row centres over a letter sent by a finance official to students, saying the university would do all it could to help struggling students but if they couldn't pay overdue debts they should contact officials promptly to discuss options and agree an acceptable payment plan.

"If you do not contact us, we will have no option but to pass your account to an external agency for further action," it said.

"Regrettably, this could ultimately lead to legal proceedings that may affect the immigration status for international students or the ability to obtain credit for UK students."

The Student Solidarity Network' - a network of students, societies and lecturers formed in 2020 to 'hold the university accountable' - claimed that considering the university championed itself as a Refugee Sanctuary University, this 'threat of deportation' was an 'outrageous betrayal' of international students and evidence of systemic racism.

It said officials had flatly refused its demand that they 'stop weaponising the threat of deportation.'

It said: "Their response is that if and when they pursue the debt in County Court, the record of the case will be publicly available for the Home Office to pursue revoking the students leave to remain and deporting them."

It said students would be cancelling their rent direct debits on October 31 and taking a wave of direct action to draw national attention to the 'scandal.'

Denying that any student was threatened with deportation, a university spokesperson said: "With the best interests of our students in mind, we would advise and forewarn any striking students that not paying rent could regrettably have consequences for their immigration status and/or credit history that are outside of the university’s control.”

They said the university was a community 'built on the values of respect and fairness, and for that reason we can’t ask the thousands of students living with us to pay rent, while waiving fees for a few without appropriate justification.'

They said: “We are directly supporting students who have been in touch with us on this issue, and urge any other students to contact us so we can support them with personal payment plans or hardship funding based on their personal circumstances. 

"We need to work together to resolve this issue, but we have also agreed with the external agency collecting debts to temporarily suspend action to give students time to contact us to get this support.”