- Migrant visa application fall after changes
- Visa applications for migrants acceptance rate drops
- Over 33% visa denial in the past year, UK.
In the past year, there has been a 33% decrease in the amount of foreign workers, students, and their families seeking visas to travel to the UK.
The significant drop comes after the Conservative government implemented rule changes that prohibited the majority of international students and health and social care workers from bringing their families to the UK.
Tentative data from external sources at the Home Office indicate a decrease in visa applications from migrants and their families, dropping from approximately 141,000 in July 2023 to 91,000 in the latest month.
A significant decline occurred in the amount of individuals seeking health and care worker visas, with numbers dropping by 80% to just 2,900.
The Home Office promised to “make sure we educate our domestic workforce and tackle the skills gap”.
A department spokesperson stated that while immigration has multiple advantages for the UK, it should be managed and implemented fairly.
Nadra Ahmed, who serves as executive co-chairman of the National Care Association, mentioned that the sector was noticing staff returning home or relocating to countries with more favorable immigration policies.
During an interview with BBC’s Radio 4 Today show, she expressed that if there were more local workers available, hiring international employees would not be necessary.
She mentioned that it would require “a couple of years” to develop a local labor force and cautioned that job openings in the industry could increase to unsustainable levels.
The decrease in visa applications from international students might negatively impact universities that are already dealing with financial challenges.
The decrease in student visa applications could be attributed in part to factors specific to certain countries, like the Nigerian currency crisis, according to the Migration Observatory.
The visa application numbers have decreased due to ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s new regulations aimed at lowering immigration rates from historic highs.
In the year 2022, lawful immigration increased significantly to 764,000, but dropped by 10% in the subsequent year. The Office for National Statistics stated that it was too soon to determine if this marks the beginning of a decline.
In 2021, changes were made to immigration regulations for care workers to address recruitment issues that arose after Brexit.
Two years after that, the government, led by then-Home Secretary James Cleverly, declared that care workers would no longer be allowed to bring their family dependants to the UK in order to decrease the overall net migration figures.
Migrant Visa Applications
This was announced after a ban on bringing dependents for most international students. The number of student dependants receiving visas surged from approximately 16,000 in 2019 to 135,000 in 2022.
The minimum salary for skilled overseas workers coming to the UK was raised from £26,200 to £38,700 by the government.
In order to be considered a skilled worker, candidates must accumulate a total of 70 points using the new points system implemented in 2020.
Points can be earned in various ways such as obtaining a job offer in a sector with shortages or possessing a Ph.D.
The Migration Observatory think tank stated that the latest data from the Home Office did not show a definite effect from the increased salary requirement.
The previous administration had suggested increasing the required salary for bringing family members to the UK from £18,600 to £38,700.
After facing criticism, it lowered the limit to £29,000 and announced that additional raises would be implemented at a later time.
In a statement last month, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declared that the new Labour government would maintain the £29,000 threshold until a review by the Migration Advisory Committee was finished.
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Big fall in migrant visa applications after changes