Over the past year, the number of applications for overseas workers, students, and their families applying for UK visas has dropped by a third. This significant decrease follows recent rule changes by the Conservative government, which now prohibit most international students and health and social care workers from bringing family members to the UK.
Provisional Home Office data indicates that visa applications from migrants and their families fell from approximately 141,000 in July 2023 to 91,000 last month. The drop is especially notable in applications for health and care worker visas, which have plummeted by 80% to 2,900.
The Home Office stated it will focus on training a domestic workforce to address skill shortages. A department spokesperson emphasized that while immigration offers many benefits, it needs to be managed fairly.
Nadra Ahmed, executive co-chairman of the National Care Association, reported that the sector is seeing some staff return to their home countries or move to nations with more welcoming immigration policies. She noted that building up a domestic workforce would take years and warned of potentially unsustainable vacancy levels in the sector.
The decline in international student visa applications might also impact universities already under financial strain. The Migration Observatory suggests that specific factors, such as the Nigerian currency crisis, could be influencing this decline.
New immigration rules introduced by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak aimed at reducing immigration from record highs appear to have contributed to the drop in visa applications. After a surge in legal net migration to 764,000 in 2022, numbers fell by 10% the following year. The Office for National Statistics has stated it is too early to determine if this is the beginning of a downward trend.
In 2021, immigration rules for care workers were relaxed to address recruitment issues post-Brexit. However, two years later, then-Home Secretary James Cleverly announced a ban on care workers bringing dependents to the UK, following a prior ban on most overseas students bringing dependents. The number of visas for student dependents had soared from around 16,000 in 2019 to 135,000 in 2022.
The government also raised the minimum salary threshold for skilled overseas workers from £26,200 to £38,700. To qualify as a skilled worker, applicants must accumulate 70 points under the 2020 points system, which can be earned through job offers in shortage sectors or holding a PhD.
The Migration Observatory’s latest data did not show a clear impact from the higher salary threshold. Previous plans to increase the salary needed to bring family members to the UK from £18,600 to £38,700 were later revised to £29,000 after public backlash, with further increases planned for a later date.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper recently announced that the new Labour government would maintain the threshold at £29,000 until the Migration Advisory Committee completes its review.
