Applications for visas to come to the UK as a skilled worker or health and care worker fell sharply in 2025, following a further tightening of migration controls, new figures show.
Some 61,000 people applied for the health and care worker visa last year, either as a main applicant or dependant, down just over a half (51%) on 123,300 in 2024.
The number applying for a skilled worker visa stood at 85,500, down 36% year on year from 132,700.
The drops are likely to reflect changes introduced by the Labour Government in summer 2025 to restrict the arrival of foreign nationals, including ending the overseas recruitment of care workers and raising the minimum salary for skilled workers from £38,700 to £41,700.
These changes built on a set of restrictions put in place by the previous Conservative government in early 2024, which saw care workers prevented from bringing family members to the country, plus an increase in the salary threshold for skilled worker or family visas.
The Tory administration also stopped most overseas students from bringing dependants to the UK, a change that led to applicants for study visas falling from 618,900 in 2023 to 430,500 in 2024, with a similar number seen in 2025 (447,900).
The latest figures have been published by the Home Office and suggest the overall level of net migration to the UK – the difference between the number of people moving long term to the country and those leaving – is likely to continue on its recent downward trend.
Net migration stood at an estimated 204,000 in the year to June 2025, down 69% from 649,000 in the previous 12 months, according to separate data published last November by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The Home Office figures show there were a total of 737,100 visa applicants across all categories in 2025, a drop of 12% from 840,000 in 2024 and down 42% from 1,263,100 in 2023.
This total includes all work and study routes, as well as family visas and the youth mobility scheme.
Migration and citizenship minister Mike Tapp said: “Net migration is at its lowest level in half a decade, and has already fallen by more than two-thirds under this Government after it was allowed to explode to nearly one million in recent years.
“Our plan to restore order to the broken immigration system we inherited is paying off – backing British workers over cheap overseas labour.
“We are going further, with the biggest legal migration reforms in 50 years reducing numbers even more.”
Applicants for family visas fell 12% year on year from 91,900 to 81,200, with numbers showing a marked drop towards the end of 2025 in the wake of the Government announcing in September that it was pausing all applications for the refugee family reunion route.
The cumulative impact of the policy changes made by both the Conservative and Labour governments over the past two years is reflected most starkly in the fall in applicants for the health and care visa, which have fallen 84% from 382,700 in 2023 to 61,000 in 2025.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has signalled that forthcoming reforms to UK asylum policy will see no automatic right to family reunion for refugees, unless they meet the same conditions for regular family visas, such as the minimum income requirement currently set at £29,000.
The Government has also announced further plans aimed at reducing the level of migration, including for those people who have “earned” settlement status in the UK, and a doubling of the time migrants have to wait before applying for indefinite leave to remain, from five to 10 years.
Migrants would need to meet additional criteria, such as having a clean criminal record and speaking English to A-level standard, and they could be fast-tracked for settlement or forced to wait longer depending on their “contribution” to the UK.
Legislation is yet to be introduced.
