The Home Office has recently released its official migration statistics for the year ending June 2023.
In this latest release, you’ll find the most current estimates regarding various aspects of immigration in the UK, including arrivals, extensions of stay, citizenship acquisitions, asylum applications, detentions, and removals. It also covers immigration for purposes such as work, study, and family reunification.
During the year ending June 2023, a total of 3,287,404 visas were granted, marking a 58% increase compared to the preceding year ending June 2022. This surge can be attributed primarily to a 98% spike in visit visas granted, as well as increased issuance of work visas (+63%) and study visas (+34%).
Among these 3.3 million visas granted:
- 55% were for visitors.
- 20% were issued to students (including dependants).
- 16% pertained to work-related routes (including dependants).
- 3% were granted for family visas and permits.
- 5% were allocated for various other reasons, including leave under the Ukraine Schemes and the British National (Overseas) route.
These statistics follow a series of government announcements during the summer, which introduced changes to the Immigration Rules potentially affecting future visa applicants. These changes encompass alterations to the Student route, impending increases in immigration fees, heightened civil penalties for employers and landlords, and modifications to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL).
It’s worth noting that significant changes like these are likely to influence the number of visa applications in the future. The government is also taking measures to reduce overall net migration figures, which reached a record high in the previous year, and to combat illegal working.
These latest statistics have been influenced by several factors, including the Ukraine conflict, increased travel as the UK recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, and key changes to work visas. We will delve deeper into these figures below.
Work Visas: In the year ending June 2023, 321,101 work visas were granted to primary applicants, marking a 45% increase from the previous year ending June 2022 and a 144% rise from the year ending June 2019, before the pandemic.
The ‘Skilled Worker’ visa category saw a 34% increase, with ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa grants rising by over two and a half times. This surge is partly attributed to the expansion of the ‘Care Workers and Home Carers’ category in late 2021. In this period, ‘Care Workers and Home Carers’ constituted about 50% of visas granted under the ‘Health and Care’ category, with Indian nationals being the most common beneficiaries.
Dependants accounted for approximately 218,000 work visas, representing 40% of all work-related visas.
Study Visas: For the year ending June 2023, 498,626 sponsored study visas were granted to primary applicants, reflecting a 23% increase from the previous year and a doubling compared to the year ending June 2019, prior to the pandemic.
About 24% of all sponsored study-related visas were issued to dependants of students, up from 17% in the year ending June 2022. Indian nationals received almost one-third of all sponsored study grants, followed by Chinese nationals.
Family Visas: Family-related visas cover individuals wishing to join family members in the UK, whether British citizens or other settled migrants. These visas also include those granted under the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) family permit.
Family-related visas more than doubled (up 110%) in the year ending June 2023, primarily due to an increase in visas granted to partners. This growth likely reflects the easing of travel restrictions following the COVID-19 pandemic and the clearance of application backlogs.
Out of a total of 75,717 family-related visas granted, 80% went to partners, with the remainder issued to children and other dependants.
Visit Visas: In the year ending June 2023, there were 1,815,342 visitor visas granted, representing a nearly two-fold increase (96%) from the year ending June 2022. Although grants have risen since the pandemic, they remain below the peak in the year ending December 2019.
During this period, Indian nationals constituted the highest proportion (30%) of visitor visas granted, followed by Chinese nationals (13%), Nigerian nationals (6%), and Turkish nationals (6%).
Extensions, Settlement, and Citizenship: In the year ending June 2023, 669,061 extensions were granted in the UK, a 52% increase from the previous year. The majority of these extensions (81%) were for work-related purposes.
Settlement grants numbered 116,997, slightly lower than the previous year. British citizenship grants totaled 180,218, with 41,349 going to EU nationals (a 31% decrease) and 138,869 to non-EU nationals (a 5% increase).
Sponsor Licensing for Work and Study: As of June 2023, approximately 69,500 organizations and institutions were registered as licensed sponsors for work and study.
Home Office data indicates that decisions on sponsor licenses increased significantly, with 32,893 decisions made in the year ending June 2023, compared to 20,869 in the previous year. Of these decisions, 25,440 licenses were granted (a 70% increase), while 7,453 were not granted (including withdrawals and rejections).
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