The number of health and care worker visas issued fell by 77% in the year ending June 2025, as the net immigration rate continues to tumble, though still not to pre-Covid levels.
Newly released Home Office figures show there were 20,519 health and care worker visas granted to main applicants in the year ending June 2025. The largest falls in the number of these visas issued were in personal caring roles, which fell by 88% to 7,378, and nursing professionals fell by 80% to 3,080.
This may be attributable to the end of the centrally supported nurse international recruitment programme and changes in demand for international staff, according to the Department for Health and Social Care. Medical practitioner numbers remained broadly consistent with the previous year.
Dependant visas have also fallen by 77% over the same period, with an average of two dependants per main applicant on a health and care worker visa in the latest year.
The steep decline is thrown into sharp relief when compared with figures for the year ending December 2023 when 145,823 health and care visas were granted.
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The health and care worker route was expanded in February 2022 to boost the social care workforce, with the growth accompanied by a large increase in the number of work-related dependant visas; most of all dependants (62%) over the last three years have been on this visa route.
Overall, there were 183,000 visas granted to main applicants in all work categories in the year ending June 2025, 36% fewer than the year ending June 2024, but 33% more than in 2019.
Hospitality fall
The number of grants to main applicants on routes in the worker category (including skilled worker visas) fell by 38% in the year ending June 2025 and the number of grants to dependants by 25%. Most of the decline was accounted for by fewer grants for food preparation and hospitality trades, which were down 9,374 to 2,168 over this period (-81%). Visa grants to this sector had been increasing since 2021 but have seen large falls in the latest year.
Following the UK’s exit from the EU and immediately after the pandemic there was a large increase in recruitment in the tech sector (mainly IT professionals). But falls since 2023 reflect market saturation and a decline in demand, said Home Office researchers. Visas issued for IT professionals have continued to fall and were down 3,084 to 10,231 (-23%) in the year ending June 2025.
Temporary visas
Meanwhile, 78,000 visas were granted to temporary workers in the year ending June 2025, a figure consistent with the past years, said the Home Office, but 90% higher than in 2019. This was mostly because of the expansion of the seasonal worker route.
Grants of an extension of stay in the UK on work routes increased by 23% in the latest year; this corresponds with the rise in work visa grants observed in 2022 and 2023, as the larger number of individuals who initially entered on work visas in those years are now becoming eligible and choosing to extend their stay.
Study visas
About 414,000 sponsored study visas were granted to foreign students in the year ending June 2025, 4% fewer than in the year ending June 2024, but 54% more than in 2019. But visas issued to dependants of students were 81% lower at 18,000 compared with the year ending June 2024.
The fall in total work numbers that began towards the end of 2023 was the result of policy changes on visa rules introduced under the then Conservative government and the increased scrutiny applied by the Home Office to employers in the health and social care sector. This has seen more compliance activity taken against employers who do not fulfil their obligations as employers of migrant workers.
The government is legislating to further restrict the use of migrant workers in the UK economy, having published a white paper in May this year.
‘Eye watering’ sponsorship costs
Chetal Patel, head of immigration at Bates Wells, said the figures were highly significant: “Compliance remains a clear priority for the Home Office and the latest migration figures show that policy changes are starting to bite.
“We now have the first full year of data since the previous government’s visa restrictions were fully implemented. The effect is stark, work visa grants have fallen by 48%, down to 286,000.
“Sponsor licence numbers have also taken a significant hit, dropping from 50,489 in the year to June 2024 to just 34,186 in the same period this year. Eye-watering sponsorship costs, coupled with increasingly restrictive policy changes are almost certainly deterring organisations from engaging with the system.
“Meanwhile, compliance activity is intensifying. In Q2 2025 alone, 869 skilled worker sponsor licences were suspended and 767 revoked, marking the highest figures recorded since the data began in 2012.
HR teams need to be aware that compliance is no longer a background issue – it’s front and centre. Regular audits, up-to-date right to work checks and clear record keeping are essential. With enforcement levels rising, the cost of non-compliance, both reputational and operational has never been higher.
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Lynsey Blyth, immigration partner at Michelmores, said the latest UK immigration statistics highlighted “the enduring value of migration to our society and economy”. She added that the 183,000 visas issued for skilled workers and 414,000 sponsored study visas demonstrated the UK’s continued appeal to global talent. “These figures reflect a Britain that is open, ambitious, and strengthened by the contributions of those who choose to make it their home,” she added.
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