Number of NHS and social care visas granted in UK doubles, according to new migration statistics

The number of health and social care visas granted has doubled since last year, Home Office migration statistics show.

146,477 people were granted Health and Care visas in the past year, with the number of overall visas granted up 26 per cent from 2022.

There were also 279,131 grants to dependents of people who had been granted a work visa.

In December, James Cleverly unveiled plans for tougher visas rules to curb net migration.

The five-point plan included hiking the minimum salary for skilled workers, and banning overseas care workers from bringing dependents.

He did however row back on the minimum salary threshold, after initially proposing only people earning more than £38,700 could bring family members with them, (more than double the current £18,600), but then slashing the new threshold to £29,000.

In the year ending December 2022, net migration was a record 745,000, according to ONS figures.

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Thursday's Home Office statistics also showed the government granted asylum to 62,336 people last year, which is the highest number ever recorded since records began in 1984.

There were 29,437 small boat arrivals in 2023, compared with 44,666 in 2022.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to "stop the boats" as part of his five promises last year.

Overall asylum applications were also down by 17 per cent, largely driven by a reduction in the number of Albanians claiming asylum, after the government struck a returns deal with Albania.

Afghanistan and Iran were the main countries people who apply for asylum came from in 2023.

The asylum backlog is also falling, with more than 128,000 people waiting for an initial decision on their asylum application at the end of last year, down by more than a quarter on the record high reached in June last year.

But despite the fall, the backlog was described as “sky-high, no matter which way you slice it” by the Liberal Democrats, while the British Red Cross said thousands of people are “stuck in indefinite limbo”.

Statistics published by the Home Office on Thursday also confirm the backlog of older asylum cases – which can equate to more than one person – in the system had not been cleared by the end of 2023, despite a claim to the contrary from the Prime Minister.

The latest figures show that as of December 31, there were 3,902 legacy cases – those where applications were made before the end of June 2022 – awaiting an initial decision.

In January, the Home Office was reprimanded by the statistics watchdog after the Government was accused of lying about clearing part of the asylum backlog.

The number of UK asylum applications withdrawn in 2023 was 24,027 – more than four times the number in 2022, when there were 5,255.

Some 79 per cent of withdrawn applications in 2023 were classed as “implicit withdrawals”, meaning the Home Office chose to withdraw the application rather than the applicant withdrawing it themselves.

The latest Home Office figures also showed 15 people who came from Rwanda were granted asylum, despite the government's insistence it is a "safe country" to send asylum seekers to.

The prime minister's spokesperson said "there are always specific circumstances taken on all asylum decisions, the prime minister is very clear Rwanda is safe and is working at pace to pass the bill".

Labour's Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "These damning statistics show how Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives have lost control of our immigration system and our border security - and have no plan to turn it around.

“A year after promising to end their use, almost 46,000 people are still stuck in hotels. The Tories’ failure to clear the backlog and return small boats arrivals has blown a £4 billion hole in the Home Office budget, paid at taxpayers' expense. Meanwhile, work visas are soaring due to their failure to train people here in the UK.

“Labour has a plan to restore order to the border, fix our broken asylum system and increase returns, and improve skills and conditions here at home. Only Labour can deliver the change we need."

The figures also showed that study visas fell by 5 per cent since 2022, but remained 70 per cent higher than 2019.

Safe and legal routes for refugees also fell, down from 66 per cent in 2-22, largely due to the reduction in the number of Ukraine Visa and Extension Schemes.

A woman died and two people are still missing after a migrant boat had to be rescued in the channel on Wednesday.

The official ONS migration statistics for 2023 will be published in May.

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