Why do people come to the UK? To work
Updated 13 June 2024
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Data relates to the year ending March 2024 and all comparisons are with the year ending March 2023 (unless indicated otherwise). All data includes dependants, unless indicated otherwise.
1. Work-related visas
In the decade prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of work visas granted were relatively stable across all work categories. Following the end of the pandemic and the UK’s departure of the EU, there was an increase in the number of work visas granted, with ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa numbers in particular growing sharply, following the expansion of the route in late 2021 to boost the social care workforce. The growth in this route led to a large increase in the number of work-related dependant visas granted, with the majority over the latest 2 years being on the ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa. Additionally, after 2021, other skilled work routes and ‘Temporary Worker’ visas also increased but their numbers have levelled off in the latest year.
In response to the recent rise in net migration, the Home Office announced a set of policy changes in December 2023, including changes that impacted work visas. While some of the changes came into effect in early 2024, some did not come into effect until the second quarter. It is therefore too early to say how recent policy changes will impact trends.
While year on year comparisons indicate that the number of work visas granted have stabilised in the latest year, the number is lower in the first quarter of 2024 compared with the same period in 2023, following a large fall in applications and an increase in the proportion of refusals for the Health and Care route.
1.1 Main applicants
There were 315,018 work visas granted to main applicants in the year ending March 2024, 5% higher than in the year ending March 2023, and more than double (+130%) than prior to the pandemic in 2019. This increase was largely driven by ‘Care workers and home carers’ in the ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care route.
Figure 1: Work visas granted to main applicants between the year ending March 2011 and the year ending March 2024
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02
Notes:
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Work visa types are denoted by solid lines whilst the ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa, which forms part of the ‘Worker’ sub-category, is denoted by a dashed line, and includes data from the first full year of the visa. The route was introduced in 2020, along with the ‘Skilled Worker’ visa, and together replaced the ‘Tier 2- General’ visa, the main route from the ‘Worker’ category.
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‘Other skilled routes’ includes the other visa routes in the ‘Worker’ category such as the ‘Skilled Worker’ and the ‘Senior or Specialist Worker’ visas.
Figure 1 shows that ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas provided the majority of the growth in work visas in the previous 2 years. In the year ending March 2024, there were 118,522 grants to main applicants for ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas, 17% higher overall compared with the previous year. However, the number of visas granted in the latest quarter in this route has fallen by 75% compared with the same quarter in the previous year. While grants on other routes in the ‘Worker’ sub-category grew following the pandemic, in the latest year they have fallen by 8%. These include 67,703 grants for ‘Skilled Worker’ visas in the latest year, 2% less (-1,551) than in the previous year.
Figure 2: ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas granted for ‘Care workers and home carers’ and ‘Senior care workers’, by quarter
Source: Sponsored work entry clearance visas by occupation and industry – Occ_D02
Notes:
- ‘Other occupations’ includes a small number of visas which couldn’t be matched to an occupation.
Figure 2 shows that in the latest quarter, the number of ‘Care workers and home carers’ has fallen to 2,814 grants, from a high of 29,713 grants in 2023 Q3 (July to September). ‘Senior Care Workers’ also fell to 478 grants in the latest quarter, compared to a high of 5,071 grants in 2023 Q1.
The decrease in grants follows a fall in applications on the route and a higher proportion of applications being refused. Across the health and care route as a whole, the number of grants to main applicants fell by 80% to 9,088 grants in the first 3 months of 2024, compared with the third quarter of 2023 (July to September) when the route peaked with 45,464 grants.
In the 6 months between October 2023 and March 2024, 17% of ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa applications were refused, compared with 6% in the previous 6 months from March 2023 to September 2023.
Overall, the care work sector accounted for 86% (-31,062) of the reduction in the number of granted ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas in the first quarter of 2024, compared with the peak in 2023 Q3 (July to September). The remaining 14% (-5,061) were accounted for by health service staff.
1.2 Dependants
In the year ending March 2024, there were 290,246 grants to dependants of people who had been granted a work visa, 55% higher than in the year ending March 2023, and over 5 times higher (+423%) than prior to the pandemic in 2019.
There were 58,950 grants to ‘Skilled Worker’ dependants and 209,638 grants to ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ dependants, with the latter category contributing 72% to the total of work-related dependents.
Out of all the work visas granted in the year ending March 2024 (including main applicants), 48% were granted to dependants. This proportion is an increase from 39% in the year ending March 2023 and 26% in the year 2019, before the pandemic.
Figure 3: Visas granted to dependants of work visa holders by visa route, between the year ending March 2020 and the year ending March 2024
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02
Notes:
- The ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas were introduced in 2020 and together replaced the ‘Tier 2 – General’ visa.
Figure 3 shows that the rise in work dependants in each of the last 2 years was mostly due to an increase in ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas. In the year ending March 2024, the number of granted ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ dependant visas increased by 100,597 compared to the previous year, almost doubling (+92%).
While the number of Health and Care main applicants fell in the first quarter of 2024, the number of dependants granted on the route in the same period has remained similar to previous quarters with 47,200 grants. These grants may be from care worker dependants who applied to join the main applicant already in the UK, following the policy change for care worker dependants. Care worker dependants are still eligible to apply for the visa if their associated main applicant applied prior to 11 March 2024, so there may be a delay before the number of dependant visas granted on this route begin to fall.
1.3 Temporary workers
In the year ending March 2024, there were 80,130 main applicant visas granted for ‘Temporary Work’ - 45% for seasonal work, 31% under the ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’ and the remaining 24% were for other temporary work.
The ‘Seasonal Worker’ route was launched in March 2019 with the number of visas that could be granted limited to 2,500 per year. The annual quota has since increased to 47,000 for 2024.
The number of ‘Temporary Worker’ visas granted to main applicants in the year ending March 2024 was 80,130. This is slightly higher (+8%) than the previous year but almost double (+96%) the number in 2019 (40,914), due to the growth in the ‘Seasonal Worker’ visa.
Figure 4: ‘Temporary Worker’ visas granted to main applicants between the year ending March 2020 and the year ending March 2024
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02
Figure 4 shows that grants of ‘Seasonal Worker’ visas in the year ending March 2024 increased by 4% to 36,407 compared with the previous year, while the number of ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’ visas issued increased by 25% to 24,707 over the same period, higher than pre-pandemic levels. This rise in temporary youth workers could reflect a bounce-back for the scheme which was heavily impacted by travel restrictions during the pandemic, but numbers also include the addition of the India Young Professionals Scheme, which held its first ballot in February 2023. The route has a quota of 3,000 places each year. Up to March 2024, there were 2,105 grants to Indian nationals under this new scheme.
Table 1: Top 5 nationalities1 of ‘Seasonal Worker’ visas granted to main applicants in the year ending March 2024
| Nationality | YE March 2023 | YE March 2024 | Change | Percentage change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kyrgyzstan | 5,416 | 9,699 | +4,283 | +79% |
| Kazakhstan | 3,516 | 6,312 | +2,796 | +80% |
| Tajikistan | 4,042 | 6,251 | +2,209 | +55% |
| Uzbekistan | 4,803 | 4,934 | +131 | +3% |
| Moldova | 2,363 | 2,093 | -270 | -11% |
| Other nationalities | 14,950 | 7,118 | -7,832 | -52% |
| Seasonal Worker | 35,090 | 36,407 | +1,317 | +4% |
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02
Notes:
- Top 5 nationalities in the most recent year.
Whilst ‘Seasonal Worker’ visas have grown slightly in the last year, the nationalities of applicants has changed. Ukrainian nationals were the highest nationality granted ‘Seasonal Worker’ visas in the year ending March 2023 (representing 16% of visas issued), however, in the latest year, grants to Ukrainians for seasonal work have fallen by 66% (-3,648) to 1,870, reflecting the impact of the war in Ukraine and the Ukraine visa schemes which launched in 2022. Central Asian nationalities (such as Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan), in contrast, have together grown by 53% (+9,426) to 27,219 and represent three-quarters (75%) of grants in the latest year.
2. Work-related extensions
In the year ending March 2024, grants of an extension in work routes for main applicants increased by 41% compared to the previous year, to 352,141, primarily driven by extensions in the ‘Skilled Worker - Health and Care’, ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Graduate’ work routes.
A total of 564,571 extensions into work routes were granted in the year ending March 2024, to main applicants and dependants. Of these extensions, 207,216 were in the ‘skilled worker health and care’ route and 133,340 were in the ‘skilled worker’ route.
Analysis from the Migrant journey: 2023 report shows that of those arriving on work routes in 2018, 38% still held valid or indefinite leave 5 years later. This suggests most workers do not remain in the UK indefinitely, although this percentage has increased year on year, from 23% for workers arriving in 2012. The proportion who remain and are granted indefinite leave varies by route, and is considerably higher in the ‘Investor, business development and talent’ visa category where 76% of main applicants held valid leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain after 5 years. ‘Temporary Workers’ by the nature of their visa are less likely to stay long term, needing to obtain a new type of visa to do so, and only 14% still held leave 5 years later.
2.1 Graduate route
The Graduate route was introduced on 1 July 2021 and allows students who have successfully completed a bachelor’s degree, postgraduate degree or other eligible course to stay in the UK for a period after their studies to work or look for work.
The Home Office has published a report titled ‘Analysis of migrants use of the Graduate route’ on the 14 May 2024, providing an in-depth analysis of those who enter and leave the Graduate route using Migrant Journey data and insights on earnings by linking Home Office visa records to HMRC income data. This report complements the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC’s) ‘Rapid Review of the Graduate Route’ published on the same date.
A total of 139,175 ‘Graduate’ route extensions were granted to main applicants in the year ended March 2024, 49% (+45,457) higher than in the year ended March 2023, (93,718). It accounted for 40% of extensions to main applicants into the Work category.
In the year to March 2024, Indian nationals represented the largest group of students granted leave to remain on the ‘Graduate’ route (64,372), representing almost half (46%) of grants of ‘Graduate’ route extensions to main applicants.
The ‘Analysis of migrants use of the Graduate route’ report shows that around a third (32%) of students who came to the end of their studies in 2023 switched to the graduate route. The migrant journey: 2023 report shows that 170,310 main applicants held leave on the graduate route at the end of 2023.
3. Other related data
The Home Office publishes the number of ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa applications by month in the Monthly monitoring of entry clearance visa applications publication.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish long-term international migration estimates. These are statistics under development that estimate the number of people immigrating to and emigrating from the UK for 12 months or more.
According to the Labour Force Survey statistics from January to March 2024, published in the ONS Labour market overview, UK: May 2024 release, the number of non-UK nationals working in the UK has increased by 200,000 (+5%) in the past year to 4.45 million. There were an estimated 2.35 million non-EU nationals working in the UK, 279,000 higher (+13%) than a year earlier and an estimated 2.09 million EU nationals working in the UK, 78,000 lower (-4%) than a year earlier.
3.1 Sponsorship licensing for work and study
At the end of March 2024, there were 96,880 organisations and institutions registered as licensed sponsors for work and study.
Home Office management information indicates that there were 14,374 decisions on applications for sponsor licences between January to March 2024, 56% more than in January to March 2023 (9,240). Of these, 11,058 licenses were granted, and 3,316 applications were not granted (including both applications withdrawn and those rejected).
This data also shows that there were 48,023 decisions made in the year ending March 2024, compared to 30,295 in the year ending March 2023. Of the 48,023 decisions, 37,197 licences were granted (61% higher than the year before), and 10,826 were not granted (including both applications withdrawn and those rejected).
4. About these statistics
The statistics in this section provide an indication of the number of people who have an intention to enter the UK for work reasons. Further information and definitions can be found in the user guide.
Entry clearance visas allow an individual to enter and stay in the UK within the period for which the visa is valid. Data in this section refers to the number of Entry clearance visas granted for work reasons within the period. If an individual was granted a visa more than once in a given period, this has been counted as multiple grants in the statistics.
Year-on-year comparisons of the number of decisions can be affected by quarterly fluctuations in the data. These fluctuations can be examined in the quarterly data in the published tables. Year ending comparisons will also include impacts resulting from the travel restrictions put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Extensions of temporary stay in the UK relate to individuals inside the UK extending or changing the status of their right to stay in the UK. An individual is required to apply for an extension or change in status before their existing permission to enter or stay in the UK expires.
The statistics in this chapter show the number of grants and refusals on applications for extension of temporary stay in the UK. One individual may have made multiple applications for an extension, so may account for multiple decisions. Data in this section includes dependants and takes account of the outcomes of reconsiderations and appeals.
4. Data tables
Data on immigration for work can be found in the following tables:
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