Monthly monitoring of entry clearance visa applications
Updated 13 February 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/monthly-entry-clearance-visa-applications/monthly-monitoring-of-entry-clearance-visa-applications
Next update due: 13 March 2025
The visa application data in this release provides statistics on numbers of people with an intention to enter the UK for work and study reasons.
On 4 December 2023, the Home Office announced changes to the Immigration Rules and published further details on 21 December. These changes came into effect following updates released on 19 February and 14 March. Policy changes are one of a range of factors that can impact visa applications.
The statistics in this release are provisional. Finalised numbers will be published in the quarterly Home Office Immigration system statistics.
1. Work visas
Figure 1: Monthly applications for ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Health and Care Worker’ visas, January 2022 to January 2025
Figure 1 shows that monthly numbers of Health and Care Worker visa applications from main applicants increased from 4,100 to 18,300 between February 2022 and August 2023, following the addition of care workers to the Shortage Occupation List. Monthly applications fell to 2,400 in March 2024 and have remained broadly stable since. There were 1,900 applications in January 2025.
There were 23,200 applications from main applicants for Health and Care visas between April 2024 and January 2025 - 81% fewer than the same 10 months between April 2023 and January 2024. This followed policy changes affecting social care workers and their family members introduced in March 2024. However, falls were seen since the latter part of 2023 likely due to more scrutiny applied by the Home Office to employers in the health and social care sector, and compliance activity taken against employers of migrant workers.
Monthly applications for dependants on the Health and Care Worker route increased in-line with main applicants, peaking at 23,300 in August 2023. Applications for dependants have decreased since December 2023, falling to 4,000 in January 2025.
There were 46,500 applications for dependants on the Health and Care route between in April 2024 to January 2025 - 77% fewer than the same 10 months between April 2023 and January 2024.
In contrast, the monthly number of Skilled Worker visa applications from main applicants were broadly stable between January 2022 and March 2024 at around 6,000 applications per month. Applications temporarily increased to 10,100 in April 2024, before returning to average levels in the following months. There were 4,000 applications in January 2025.
There were 54,900 applications for Skilled Worker visas from main applicants between April 2024 and January 2025 - 10% fewer than the same 10 months between April 2023 and January 2024.
Applications for dependants on the Skilled Worker route were broadly in-line with main applicants. There were 46,700 applications between April 2024 and January 2025 - 7% fewer than the same 10 months between April 2023 and January 2024.
2. Study visas
Figure 2: Monthly applications for ‘Sponsored study’ visas, January 2022 to January 2025
Figure 2 shows that applications from Sponsored study visa main applicants in the year ending January 2025 (411,100) were 13% lower than the year ending January 2024.
There were 21,500 applications from dependants of students in the year ending January 2025, 84% fewer than the year ending January 2024. This followed the rule changes that came into effect in January 2024 which prevent students from bringing dependants, apart from those studying postgraduate research courses or courses with government-funded scholarships.
3. Policy changes
The changes to Immigration Rules affecting ‘Skilled Worker’, ‘Health and Care Worker’, ‘Sponsored study’ and ‘Partner’ visas are as follows:
- from 1 January 2024, international students were no longer able to bring dependants on all but postgraduate research courses and courses with government-funded scholarships
- from 11 March 2024, social care workers arriving from overseas are no longer allowed to bring dependants (that is, partners and children) on their visa
- from 4 April 2024, the baseline general salary to be sponsored for a ‘Skilled Worker’ visa increased from £26,200 to £38,700, while the ‘going rate’ minimum salary specific to each job has also gone up significantly
- a list of jobs for which it is possible to sponsor someone for a ‘Skilled Worker’ visa at a reduced minimum salary was reduced and renamed the Immigration Salary List
- from 11 April 2024, the minimum income normally required to sponsor someone for a spouse/partner visa was increased from £18,600 to £29,000
4. Data table
Data on monthly applications for ‘Skilled Worker’, ‘Health and Care Worker’, and ‘Sponsored study’ visas can be found in the following table: