- UK visa applications dropped by one-third due to rule changes
- Significant fall in health workers, students bringing dependents
- Concerns over workforce gaps and university finances
Over the last year, the number of international workers, students, and their families asking for visas to enter the United Kingdom has decreased by one-third.
The steep fall follows rule changes implemented by the Conservative government, which prohibited most international students and health and social care workers from bringing their families to the UK.
According to preliminary estimates from the Home Office, the number of migrants and their family members seeking visas decreased from approximately 141,000 in July 2023 to 91,000 last month.
The number of applications for health and care worker visas fell by 80% to 2,900.
The Home Office stated that it will “ensure we train our homegrown workforce and address the skills shortage.”
A government official stated that immigration provided “many benefits to the UK, but it must be controlled and delivered through a fair system.
According to Nadra Ahmed, executive co-chairman of the National Care Association, the sector has begun to see some professionals return home or relocate to countries with “a less hostile environment around immigration”.
She said: “If we had a domestic workforce willing to work, we wouldn’t need these international recruits.”
She went on to say that establishing a domestic workforce would “take a few years” and that vacancies in the sector could reach unsustainable proportions.
The decrease in the number of overseas students applying for visas may harm universities that are already struggling financially.
According to the Migration Observatory, the fall in student visa applications could be attributed to country-specific reasons such as Nigeria’s monetary problems.
Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s new policies, aimed at reducing immigration levels from record highs, appear to have resulted in a drop in visa applications.
Legal net migration peaked at 764,000 in 2022 before falling 10% the following year. According to the Office for National Statistics, it is “too early to say if this is the start of a downward trend”.
In 2021, immigration requirements for care workers were modified to alleviate recruitment issues caused by Brexit.
Two years later, then-Home Secretary James Cleverly stated that the government would prohibit care workers from bringing family members to the UK as part of its efforts to lower net migration levels.
That followed a previously stated ban on most international students bringing dependents with them. Visas given to student dependents have increased considerably, from roughly 16,000 in 2019 to 135,000 in 2022.
The government recently raised the minimum wage for talented overseas workers seeking to relocate to the UK from £26,200 to £38,700.
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Under the points system, which began in 2020, applicants must earn 70 points to be considered skilled workers.
Points can be earned in various ways, such as obtaining a job offer in a field with a shortage or possessing a PhD.
The Migration Observatory research tank stated that the Home Office’s most recent data showed no “clear impact” from the increased salary criteria.
The previous government also suggested increasing the salary required to bring family members to the UK from £18,600 to £38,700.
Following a reaction, it cut the threshold to £29,000 and announced that future increases would be implemented at an undefined date.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced last month that the new Labour government would keep the threshold at £29,000 until the Migration Advisory Committee’s study was complete.
