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Visa applications drop as minister admits foreign workers needed to solve housing crisis

by DD Staff

December 12, 2024

Lunar House in Croydon, south London which houses the headquarters of UK Visas and Immigration, a division of the Home Office

key takeaways

As a result of tighter government visa regulations, the number of foreign applicants to work or study in the UK has decreased to its lowest level in years.

The Home Office received 4,100 applications for skilled visas from foreign workers in November, which is 2,000 lower than the same month the previous year and the fewest since January 2022.

Additionally, according to figures released on Thursday, there were only 1,900 applications for health and care worker visas, down from nearly 10,000 in November 2023, and 3,800 applications to bring dependents to the UK.

Requests from foreign doctors, nurses and health and adult social care professionals to come to Britain reached an all time high in August last year when there were 18,300 applicants in the month.

It comes as a minister admitted that the country will be “reliant” on foreign builders to help solve the housing crisis.

But Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook insisted that the Government would not be easing visa restrictions to bring in more foreign labour to meet its 1.5million new homes target.

“We're not looking at easing restrictions, but we will be reliant, partly as a result of the change made by the previous government on some foreign workers in this space,” he told LBC.

“We've got to do more to train and skill up our own people to work in this [building] industry.

“We recently announced a significant sum of money £140million for a series of training hubs across the country to get more apprenticeships moving through the system.

“There's other action we're taking across government to address this issue.

“If we don't take steps to deal with the fact that we've got an aging construction workforce and not particularly diverse construction workforce, and to draw on modern methods of construction as well, we won't be able to achieve that 1.5 million new homes targets.”

Changes in legal migration rules for foreign workers, students and their family members has prompted a significant drop in visa applications.

New measures designed to bring down immigration were introduced by the previous Conservative government and came into effect at various dates from January 2024.

Foreign carers were banned from bringing their loved ones to the UK in March, while the minimum salary required for those arriving on a skilled worker visa rose from £26,200 to £38,700 in April.