Applications for Health and Care Worker visas in the United Kingdom have significantly fallen by 77 per cent in the year ending June 2025 after nationals of Nigeria, Ghana and Zimbabwe topped visa tally in the sector in the previous years, the Home Office has said in a data.
According to the quarterly immigration and asylum statistics published on Thursday, 21 August 2025, the number of ‘Health and Care Worker’ visa granted in the period under review have generally continued to decrease in the latest year, unlike year ending 2023 when there was a surge in application from nationals from the three Sub-Saharan African countries.
The latest data, which covers Labour’s first year in office, comes as the government faces growing pressure over immigration.
The figures indicate that the number of ‘Health and Care Worker’ visas issued to main applicants fell by 77 per cent in the year ending June 2025. Dependant visas have also fallen by 77% over the same period, with an average of 2 dependants per main applicant on a ‘Health and Care Worker’ visa in the latest year.
The number of ‘Health and Care Worker’ visas issued to main applicants increased from 47,194 in the year ending June 2022 to 145,823 in the year ending December 2023. The rise was primarily due to an increase in South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) and Sub-Saharan African (Zimbabwean, Ghanaian, and Nigerian) nationals coming to work as care workers.
There were 20,519 ‘Health and Care Worker’ visas granted to main applicants in the year ending June 2025. The number of ‘Health and Care Worker’ visas issued to migrant workers in a Caring Personal Service occupation fell by 88% to 7,378. Nursing Professionals fell by 80% to 3,080 in the year ending June 2025, which may be attributable to the end of the centrally supported nurse international recruitment programme and changes in demand for international staff.
Sponsorship licensing for work and study
At the end of year ending June 2025, there were 120,778 organisations and institutions registered as licensed sponsors for work and study, compared to 31,899 in 2019 before the introduction of the new Immigration system following the UK’s departure from the EU.
This data also shows that there were 34,186 sponsor licences decided in the year ending June 2025, compared to 50,489 in the year ending June 2024. Of these, 19,177 licences were granted (50% fewer than the year before), and 15,009 were not granted (including both applications withdrawn and those rejected).
Increases in the Graduate, Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker routes were the primary drivers of growth in work extension grants.
Grants of an extension of stay in the UK onto work routes increased by 23% in the year ending June 2025 compared with the previous 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
The data said sponsored study visa grants have decreased over the last two years, with the largest falls due to the decline in dependants of students.
In the year ending June 2025, there were 431,725 sponsored study visas grants, 18% fewer than the previous year but 52% higher than 2019. This included 413,921 main applicants – 4% fewer than in the year ending June 2024 – and 17,804 dependants – 81% fewer than the previous year.
Study extension grants typically peak in in the third and fourth quarters of the year, likely driven by the timing of academic course start dates.
Passenger arrivals to the UK
In the year ending June 2025 there were 134.8 million arrivals to the UK, 5% more than the previous year. Passengers arriving by air accounted for 88% of all passenger arrivals to the UK (across all routes) in the year ending June 2025, with 7% arriving via rail and 5% by sea.
There were 852,324 non-Visitor or Transit visas granted in the year ending June 2025, 32% fewer than in the year ending June 2024, but 16% higher than in 2019 prior to the pandemic. This total was made up of Study (435,891), Work (286,071), Family (70,961) and Other (59,401) visas
Chinese (11,999), Indian (6,260), and Nigerian (4,041) nationals represent the nationalities with the highest number of granted ‘student’ extensions in the year ending June 2025. Together, these three nationalities accounted for over half (56%) of all sponsored study extensions, reflecting their continued predominance among those granted study visas in recent years.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government was “bringing legal migration back under control”, with “stronger visa controls and higher skill requirements introduced through our White Paper expected to bring those overall numbers down further.”
Asylum seekers peaked
The report also revealed that the number of asylum applications in the UK has reached a new record high while the backlog in cases has dropped below 100,000 for the first time in four years.
A total of 111,084 people applied for asylum in the UK in the year to June 2025, the highest number for any 12 month period since current records began in 2001.
The number is up 14% from 97,107 in the year to June 2024, according to figures published by the Home Office.
Of the claims, 39% were made by people who arrived in the UK after crossing the English Channel.
