The number of foreign student dependant visas issued between January and March has dropped by around 80 percent compared to the same quarter in 2023, new figures released on Tuesday show.
It comes after a new rule came into force this year barring most students from bringing dependants.
The number of visas for health and care workers have also fallen by almost 74 percent, although dependant visas continued to significantly outnumber main applicants.
The Home Office said the impact of its new restriction on care workers dependant visas, which came into effect on March 11, will be “fully shown in future statistics.”
During the first quarter this year, the UK issued a total of 139,100 visas to health and care workers, other skilled workers, sponsored student, and their dependants.
It’s around 15 percent above the level in the same quarter in 2022, but a quarter less than the level seen in the first quarter in 2023.
Of these, 34,000 visas were given to sponsored students, 15 percent down on 2023, and 6,700 visas were issued to their dependants, nearly 80 percent down on 2023.
During the same quarter, 10,200 foreign health and care workers were granted work visas. It’s around 26 percent of the number in the same quarter last year. However, 49,300 visas were given to dependants of health and care workers. It’s almost 12 percent up on 2023 and nearly five times the number of main applicants.
The number of visas issued to other skill workers and their dependants have both increased, by 19 percent and 61 percent respectively, to 19,100 and 19,800.
The trend could change in the next quarter as the increase in salary threshold for skilled worker visa has come into effect on April 4.
The standard going rate for people arriving in the UK on a skilled worker visa has increased from £26,200 to £38,700.
For workers on existing sponsorships, or lower rate, the threshold has risen to £29,000, and the the ‘going rate’ minimum salary specific to each job has also gone up.
The government’s measure also included crackdowns on low quality courses and fake healthcare visa sponsors, and the shortening of the list of jobs that can qualify as sponsors for skilled workers’ visas.
Commenting on figures released on Tuesday, Home Secretary, James Cleverly, said future statistics will continue to show the impact of the policies.
“Ever-spiralling numbers were eroding the British people’s confidence in our immigration system, burdening public services and supressing [sic] wages.
“When I promised to deliver the largest-ever cut in legal migration, I knew we must also work to show the impact of our action as soon as practically possible.”
The home secretary said the data shows “a significant fall in numbers on the first of our measures to take effect whilst underlining why necessary action was taken to cut unsustainable numbers of care worker dependants.
“This does not mark the end of the road in our plan to cut migration, there is more still to come,” he said. “Over the coming months, we will continue to show the pace of our progress as we deliver the control the public rightly expect.”
Last week, campaigner Migrants at Work told The Guardian it had launched a legal challenge against the government’s policy to ban care workers form bringing dependants, saying the policy is “tearing families apart.”
A government spokesperson told the publication at the time, “Care workers make a vital contribution to society, but immigration is not the long-term answer to our social care needs.
The spokesperson said around 120,000 dependants had accompanied 100,000 care workers in the year ending September 2023, adding, “These numbers are unsustainable, which is why reforms are now in place restricting care workers from bringing dependants with them.”
