.svg)
The number of migrants applying for major UK visa routes has plummeted by more than a third in just one year, newly released figures reveal.
In the year leading up to March 2025, the Home Office recorded 772,200 visa applications across the main categories—down 37% from nearly 1.24 million during the previous 12 months.
This sharp decline is widely attributed to immigration policy changes introduced in early 2024 by the former Conservative government. These changes included a ban on overseas care workers and international students bringing family members, as well as a significant increase in the minimum salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700.
The data, covering worker, study, and family visa routes, shows the most significant drop in applications from foreign health and care workers and their dependents. That group fell by 78%, from 359,300 in 2023/24 to just 80,700 in 2024/25.
Even more dramatic was the 83% fall in applications from dependents of sponsored students, following the policy that restricts most international students from bringing family members unless they are on postgraduate research programmes or receiving government-funded scholarships. In contrast, the number of primary student visa applicants declined by a comparatively modest 11%.
Dr Ben Brindle, a researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said the changes had clearly impacted overall visa numbers. “The tighter immigration controls led to a pronounced drop in applications, especially from care workers and students' families—most of whom are no longer eligible to come to the UK,” he noted.
He also pointed out that while health and care worker applications declined significantly, other job sectors were less affected than expected. “It seems some employers are simply meeting the new salary threshold by paying higher wages,” he explained. Still, some employers may be opting to fill roles differently—or leaving them vacant altogether—as a result of the new criteria.
Applications for skilled worker visas fell by 16%, while those for their dependents dropped by 13% over the same period.
Despite the downward trend, Dr Brindle emphasized that immigration levels remain elevated compared to pre-Brexit figures. “These reductions are only possible because post-Brexit migration had reached such high levels. Even now, non-EU visa applications remain well above what we saw before the UK left the EU,” he said.
The key visa routes covered in the data include skilled workers, health and care workers, sponsored study, family reunification, seasonal workers, and the youth mobility scheme.
