UK Visa Numbers Plummet Amid Crackdown on Legal Migration

New immigration policies lead to a significant drop in foreign worker and student visas, impacting sectors reliant on overseas labor.

The number of foreign worker, student, and health care visas issued in the UK has fallen by 35.6% in the first eight months of 2024 compared to the same period last year.
The decline follows measures introduced by the former Conservative government, including bans on dependents for foreign workers and students and increases in the skilled-worker salary threshold.
The social care sector is particularly affected, with a 25% drop in health and care worker visas between June 2023 and June 2024, and an 81% fall from April to June 2024.
Labour continues many of the previous government's immigration restrictions, despite pressures to relax them, while also pausing further increases in the salary threshold for migrant spouses.
The care sector's reliance on migrant workers is exacerbated by poor working conditions, low pay, and high turnover, with 152,000 vacant posts in adult social care in England as of October 2023.