National statistics

Why do people come to the UK? To work

Published 24 November 2022

Back to Immigration statistics, year ending September 2022 content page.

This is not the latest release. View latest release.

Data relate to the year ending September 2022 and all comparisons are with the calendar year 2019 (unless indicated otherwise), reflecting a comparison with the period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Year ending comparisons that follow will include impacts resulting from the restrictions in place during this period of the pandemic.

Recent changes in visa numbers

There are a range of developments that are likely to have impacted visa numbers recently and which mean that the Home Office visa statistics at present, may include an element of uncertainty around the overall trends.

Global events such as the world recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and international events (war in Ukraine, Taliban takeover in Afghanistan and National Security Law in Hong Kong), along with policy changes introduced as part of the new Immigration system and the end of EU freedom of movement, have all had an impact on migration. As a result, we are seeing large increases in numbers of visas granted on some of the most commonly used routes in the year ending September 2022, with large increases for sponsored study, non-temporary work and dependants of students and workers, as well as on the new humanitarian routes (for people from Ukraine and Afghanistan, and the BN(O) visa route from Hong Kong).

Changes to travel plans caused by the emergence from the pandemic will have led to a higher number of visas being recorded in the most recent period. The reopening of travel opportunities has led to many people changing travel plans, whether for work, study or visits, in some cases recommencing, or bringing forward journeys they had planned during the pandemic. We saw evidence of this in the spike in passport applications in the UK earlier this year and the strong recovery in air travel shown in the previous Home Office statistical reports on passenger air arrivals. Analysis of Home Office data also suggests that some applications for visas will have been delayed, and some others where travel could not take place repeated, and these may also have caused a higher number to be concentrated in the year ending September 2022.

The end of free movement is likely to have had an impact on EU migration, and in turn non-EU migrants may fill some of the work and study places previously taken by EU migrants. Other policy changes such as the expansion of Skilled Work and Health and Care routes, seasonal work and the Graduate route will have increased visa numbers.

It is difficult to unpick the extent to which each of these factors is contributing to the current increase in both visa applications and grants, and the longer-term intentions of any travellers, whether on temporary or more permanent visas. It may take some time before the effects from the pandemic are seen to balance out in the data.

For further details see ‘Recent changes to visa numbers in Home Office data’.

1. Main applicants on work-related visas

There were 248,919 grants to main applicants in the year ending September 2022, which represented just under two thirds (65%) of all work visas. This is 82% higher than prior to the pandemic in 2019, and 80% more than in the year ending September 2021, although it should be noted that annual figures are unable to account for changes in travel patterns following the pandemic.

Table 1: Work-related visas granted to main applicants by visa type

Visa type	Year ending December 2019	Year ending September 2022	Change	Percentage change
Worker	63,757	145,258	+81,501	+128%
Temporary Worker	40,914	72,997	+32,083	+78%
Investor, business development and talent	2,780	3,416	+636	+23%
Other work visas and exemptions1	29,601	27,248	-2,353	-8%
Total	137,052	248,919	+111,867	+82%

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Notes:

1. The ‘Other work visas and exemptions’ category includes the ‘Frontier Worker Permit’, the ‘High Potential Individual’ visa and older routes such as ‘European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) businessperson’, ‘Overseas Domestic Worker’, ‘UK Ancestry’ visas and other routes that are now closed.

Figure 1: Work-related visas granted to main applicants by visa type, year ending by quarter, September 2013 to September 2022

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Figure 1 shows a rise in all the main work visa types for main applicants across 2021, with ‘Worker’ visas and ‘Temporary Worker’ visas continuing to show a particularly strong increase in 2022. As already noted, some of these increases may reflect a bounce back from the low levels during the pandemic as people have rearranged travel and work arrangements now that they are able to do so.

According to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) statistics from July to September 2022 (the latest data with nationality region breakdowns) published in the ONS Labour market overview, UK: November 2022 release, there were an estimated 3.94 million non-UK nationals working in the UK in September 2022, which would represent an increase of 298,000 (+8%) compared to a year earlier, and 289,000 higher (+8%) than in December 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Of the 3.94 million non-UK nationals, there were an estimated 1.83 million non-EU nationals working in the UK, 278,000 higher (+18%) than a year earlier, and 487,000 higher (+36%) than in December 2019. In contrast, there were an estimated 2.11 million EU nationals working in the UK, 21,000 higher (+1%) than a year earlier but 198,000 (-9%) lower than in December 2019.

The ONS are reviewing the LFS methodology at present, so estimates of the foreign labour force from this source should be used with caution.

1.1 Worker

The ‘Worker’ visa category includes sponsored visas which typically lead to settlement, and is the main visa category for skilled workers.

In the year ending September 2022, ‘Worker’ visas granted to main applicants increased by 128% (+81,501) to 145,258, compared with 2019. These increases are largely due to the Skilled Worker and Skilled Worker - Health and Care visas. The ‘Worker’ category represents 58% of all main applicant work visas granted.

Figure 2: ‘Worker’ visas granted to main applicants by year, year ending September 2019 to September 2022

Figure 2 shows the growth in ‘Worker’ visas following the introduction of the ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas in December 2020. There were 61,240 grants to main applicants of ‘Skilled Worker’ visas and an additional 61,414 grants to main applicants of ‘Skilled Worker - Health and Care’ visas in the year ending September 2022.

Grants for ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas have grown in almost every quarter since they were first introduced, and together represent 84% of work visas in the ‘Worker’ category, and just under half (49%) of all work visas granted to main applicants in the latest year.

Additionally, the ‘Senior or Specialist Worker (Global Business Mobility)’ route was launched in April 2022 to replace the ‘Intra-company` Transfer (ICT)’ visa. In this route there have been 9,034 grants to main applicants up to the end of September 2022. ICT-related visas together represented 20,296 grants which is 25% lower than the 27,138 visas granted in Tier 2 ICT routes in 2019.

Indian nationals continue to be the top nationality granted ‘Worker’ visas, accounting for 39% of the total, as seen in Table 2.

Table 2: Top 5 nationalities¹ granted ‘Worker’ main applicant visas, 2019 compared to year ending September 2022

Nationality	Year ending December 2019	Year ending September 2022	Change	Percentage change
India	29,552	56,042	+26,490	+90%
Philippines	5,176	9,974	+4,798	+93%
Nigeria	1,993	9,944	+7,951	+399%
Zimbabwe	499	8,363	+7,864	+1,576%
United States	5,693	5,075	-618	-11%
Other nationalities2	20,844	55,860	+35,016	+168%
Total	63,757	145,258	+81,501	+128%

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Notes:

1. Top 5 nationalities in the most recent year.
2. ‘Other nationalities’ includes those that do not feature in the top 5 in the year ending September 2022.

The top 3 nationalities granted the ‘Skilled Worker’ visa were Indian nationals, accounting for 33% (20,413), United States nationals with 6% (3,729) and South African nationals with 4% (2,501).

Similarly, for the ‘Skilled Worker - Health and Care’ visa, Indian nationals represented the highest number of grants with 36% (22,171) of the total. Nigerian nationals were the second highest with 14% (8,520) followed by Zimbabwean nationals with 13% (7,875).

1.2 Temporary Worker

The ‘Temporary Worker’ category mainly relates to shorter-term visas which do not typically lead to settlement.

Grants of ‘Temporary Worker’ visas to main applicants have increased by 32,083 (+78%) to 72,997, compared with 2019. The increase has been largely driven by the ‘Seasonal Worker’ visa, which represents 53% of ‘Temporary Worker’ main applicant visas in the year ending September 2022.

Visas granted to ‘Seasonal Workers’ have risen from 2,493 in 2019 to 38,789 in the year ending September 2022, which reflects the increase in this route’s quota in 2022 to 40,000.

When the Seasonal worker scheme was reintroduced in 2019, the visa was primarily granted to Ukrainians, who represented 91% of grants in the first year. In the year ending September 2022, Ukraine remains the largest nationality with 25% (9,729) of all grants. However, nationals from Central Asia represent an increasing proportion of grants, with the second and third highest number of grants to Kyrgyzstan (4,302, 11%) and Tajikistan (4,283, 11%) nationals.

In contrast, all other ‘Temporary Worker’ routes saw an overall decrease of 11% compared with 2019.

The ‘Youth Mobility Scheme’ is the second largest ‘Temporary Worker’ route, accounting for 15,223 grants and 21% of ‘Temporary Worker’ visas granted. However, this is around one quarter (24%) fewer than were granted in 2019. The highest number of Youth Mobility visas were issued to nationals of Australia (6,300 or 41% of the total), New Zealand (2,793, 18%) and Canada (2,705, 18%).

In April 2022, there were 5 Global Business Mobility routes launched, including 4 under the ‘Temporary Worker’ category. To the end of September 2022, there were 149 grants for the ‘Graduate Trainee’ visa, 8 grants for the ‘Secondment Worker’ visa, 12 grants for the ‘Service Supplier’ visa, and 16 grants for the ‘UK Expansion Worker’ visa.

1.3 Investor, business development and talent

The ‘Investor, business development and talent’ category includes the ‘Global Talent’, ‘Innovator’, and ‘Start-up’ visas, and the now closed Tier 1 ‘High Value’ routes.

Grants to main applicants in this category increased by 23% (+636), to 3,416 between 2019 and the year ending September 2022.

The ‘Global Talent’ visa, introduced in February 2020, accounted for 2,560 grants. Indian nationals represented 13% (328) of grants, followed by Nigerian (258, 10%) and United States (252, 10%) nationals.

The ‘Innovator’ visa was introduced in April 2019, to replace the ‘Tier 1 – Entrepreneur’ visa. There were 254 grants for the ‘Innovator’ visa, while there were 51 grants for the Entrepreneur visa. The combined grants from both visas have fallen by 75% compared with 2019.

There were 364 grants in the year ending September 2022 for the ‘Start-Up’ visa which launched in March 2019.

1.4 Other work visas and exemptions

Compared with 2019, grants to main applicants for all other work visas and exemptions decreased by 8% (-2,353) to 27,248 in the year ending September 2022.

The largest visa for main applicants in this category was the ‘Overseas Domestic Worker’ visa with 18,194 grants, although this has fallen by 14% (-2,875) compared with 2019. The second largest was the ‘UK Ancestry’ visa with 3,559 grants, which has fallen by 3% (-114).

The High Potential Individual (HPI) visa launched on 30 May 2022 and is available to recent graduates from a set list of top global universities to work or look for work in the UK. Up to the end of September 2022, there have been 729 grants to main applicants, with 148 grants (20%) from United States nationals, 141 grants (19%) from Chinese nationals and 105 grants (14%) from Indian nationals.

There were 59,937 grants to main applicants for further leave to remain in the Graduate route, with Indian nationals representing 41% of grants. The Graduate route was introduced on 01 July 2021 and allows students who have successfully completed a bachelor’s degree, postgraduate degree, or other eligible course to extend their stay in the UK for a period after their studies to work or look for work. A Graduate visa lasts for 2 years, or 3 years in the case of completing a PhD or other doctoral qualification.

1.5 Work visas to main applicants for EEA and Swiss nationals

From the 1st of January 2021, changes in the immigration rules resulting from the UK’s departure from the European Union mean that EEA and Swiss (excluding Irish) nationals now require a visa to work in the UK.

In the year ending September 2022, there were 27,769 work-related visas granted to main applicants from EEA and Swiss nationals, representing 11% of all work-related visas to main applicants.

The top 3 EEA nationalities granted work visas and permits were French (4,362 grants, 16% of EEA work visas), German (3,832 14% of EEA work visas) and Italian (3,253 grants, 12% of EEA work visas).

EEA and Swiss nationals represented 15,934 or 11% of grants on ‘Worker’ routes. Of these, 11,848 grants were on the ‘Skilled Worker’ visa.

The ‘Skilled Worker’ visa was the largest route for EEA nationalities, with 43% of all EEA work grants in the year ending September 2022. On this route, French nationals were the highest EEA nationality, with 2,439 grants, followed by Italian (2,102 grants) and Spanish (1,401 grants) nationals.

EEA nationals represented 19% of ‘Skilled Worker’ grants from all nationalities. In contrast, EEA nationals represented just 2% (997) of ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas granted.

Almost one in five grants on the ‘Global Talent’ route were to EEA nationalities, with 491 grants (19%). The top EEA nationalities in this route were Italian with 92 grants, followed by German (81) and French (80).

2. Dependants on work-related visas

Over one third (35%) of all work visas were to dependants (partner or child) of main applicants, with 132,540 grants in the year ending September 2022. This was more than double (+139%) the number of grants in 2019, the last full year prior to the pandemic. To note, a dependant does not necessarily need to apply at the same time as the main applicant associated with the application.

Table 3: Work-related visas granted to dependants by visa type

Visa type	Year ending December 2019	Year ending September 2022	Change	Percentage change
Worker	49,798	125,394	+75,596	+152%
Temporary Worker	2,553	2,164	-389	-15%
Investor, business development and talent	3,142	3,084	-58	-2%
Other work visas and exemptions1	14	1,898	n/a2	n/a2
Total	55,507	132,540	+77,033	+139%

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Notes:

1. The ‘Other work visas and exemptions’ category includes the ‘Frontier Worker Permit’, the ‘High Potential Individual’ visa and older routes such as ‘European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) businessperson’, ‘Overseas Domestic Worker’, ‘UK Ancestry’ visas and other routes that are now closed.
2. Some dependants which applied through older routes are included in the ’Dependants joining and accompanying’ visa category, and therefore, 2019 and 2022 are non-comparable.

Figure 3: Number of dependants on work-related visas by route and year, and percentage of dependants on work-related visas by year, year ending September 2019 to September 2022

Figure 3 shows a large rise in dependants on work visas in the year ending September 2022, driven by the ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visas, which were introduced in December 2020. There were 42,174 grants to dependants on ‘Skilled Worker’ visas and an additional 62,764 grants to dependants on ‘Skilled Worker - Health and Care’ visas in the year ending September 2022.

However, the percentage of dependants on work routes have remained relatively stable, from 29% in the year ending September 2019 to 35% in the year ending September 2022.

Dependants on visas in the ‘Worker’ category (the main category for skilled work) increased by 75,596 (+152%) to 125,394, compared with 2019. This work category represented 95% of all dependant work visas. Indian nationals continue to be the highest nationality, accounting for over half (51%) of these grants.

Table 4: Top 5 nationalities¹ of dependants granted ‘Worker’ visas, 2019 compared to the year ending September 2022

Nationality	Year ending December 2019	Year ending September 2022	Change	Percentage change
India	27,535	63,912	+36,377	+132%
Nigeria	1,925	11,908	+9,983	+519%
Zimbabwe	494	6,668	+6,174	+1,250%
Philippines	1,139	5,324	+4,185	+367%
Pakistan	1,476	3,752	+2,276	+154%
Other nationalities2	17,229	33,830	+16,601	+96%
Total	49,798	125,394	+75,596	+152%

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Notes:

1. Top 5 nationalities in the most recent year.
2. ‘Other nationalities’ includes those that do not feature in the top 5 in the year ending September 2022.

The top 3 nationals granted to dependants on ‘Skilled Worker’ visas were Indian nationals, accounting for 47% (19,893), United States nationals with 6% (2,362) and Pakistani nationals with 4% (1,853).

For dependants on the ‘Skilled Worker - Health and Care’ visa, Indian nationals represented the highest number of grants with 46% (28,946) of the total. Nigerian nationals were the second highest with 17% (10,581), followed by Zimbabwean nationals with 10% (6,321).

3. Sponsored work visa applications

At the end of September 2022, there were over 52,000 organisations and institutions registered as licensed sponsors for work and study.

Home Office management information indicates that there were 6,965 decisions on applications for sponsor licences between July to September 2022, 68% more than in July to September 2021 (4,156). Of these, 5,408 licenses were granted, and 1,557 applications were not granted (including both applications withdrawn and those rejected).

These data also show that there were 23,678 decisions made in the year ending September 2022, compared to 13,284 in the year ending September 2021. Of the 23,678 decisions, 17,373 licences were granted (72% higher than the year before) and 6,305 were not granted (including both applications withdrawn and those rejected).

In the year ending September 2022, there were 201,074 applications for a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for work visas. This was 77% higher (+87,300) than in the year ending September 2019. (Comparisons are made with the year ending September 2019, due to data quality issues between October to December 2019 and April to June 2020. See Section 5.4 for details.)

CoS applications for ‘Worker’ visas (the main category for skilled work) made up 69% (139,451) of the total applications. Two-fifths of sponsored ‘Worker’ visa applications were in the health and social care sector, with the 5 largest sectors comprising:

• Human Health and Social Work Activities (40%)
• Information and Communications (16%)
• Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (12%)
• Financial and Insurance Activities (8%)
• Manufacturing (5%)

‘Human Health and Social work’ CoS applications within the ‘Worker’ category have grown from 15,348 in the year ending September 2019 to 56,434 in the year ending September 2022. Almost all sectors grew between these 2 periods, but ‘Human Health and Social Work Activities’ accounted over half (54%) of all growth in ‘Worker’ CoS applications.

The increase is likely due to a combination of the removal of doctors and nurses from the Tier 2 Visa Cap in June 2018 and the further demand for healthcare professionals resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

4. Immigration for work

In the year ending September 2022, the total number of work visas granted (including dependants) was 381,459, around double (+98%) the number in 2019 and 87% higher than in the previous year. 65% of work visas were issued to main applicants and 35% to were issued to dependents.

These increases will in part reflect the recovery from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travel, and the change in travel plans, and in part also reflect the requirement for EEA and Swiss nationals to apply for an entry clearance visa following the end of free movement when the UK left the EU at the start of 2021.

5. About these statistics

The statistics in this section provide an indication of the number of people who have an intention to enter the UK for work reasons.

Before 2021, due to the application to the UK of European Union (EU) free movement law, UK immigration control related almost entirely to non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals. From 2021, unless otherwise stated, data in this release relate to both EEA and non-EEA nationals which require a visa to enter the UK.

Entry clearance visas allow an individual to enter and stay in the UK within the period for which the visa is valid.

Data in this section refer to the number of Entry clearance visas granted for work reasons within the period. If an individual was granted a visa more than once in a given period, this has been counted as multiple grants in the statistics. If an individual entered the UK multiple times within the period for which a visa was valid, this has been counted as one grant in the visa statistics.

The data do not show whether, or when, an individual arrived in the UK, what they did on arrival to the UK, or how long they stayed in the UK. Year-on-year comparisons of the number of decisions can be affected by quarterly fluctuations in the data. These fluctuations can be examined in the quarterly data available in the published tables. Year ending comparisons will also include impacts resulting from the travel restrictions put in place during the pandemic.

5.1 Worker

The ‘Worker’ visa category includes sponsored visas which typically lead to settlement, and is the main visa category for skilled workers.

These visas are Tier 2 routes from the Old Points Based system and their successors: the Skilled Worker, Skilled Worker - Health and Care, ‘Intra-company Transfer’ and International Sportsperson visas. The Senior or Specialist Worker visa, introduced in April 2022 as part of the new Global Business Mobility routes, has also been included as the successor to the ‘Intra-company Transfer’ visa.

Additionally, the Scale-up Worker visa, which launched in August 2022, is included in this category. However, there have been no visa applications up to the end of September 2022 in this route. This is because the route requires individuals to be sponsored in the first instance, and so there will be a period before individual applications can be made, given the need for companies to apply for a licence and meet the high-growth requirements for the route. The Scale-up route is also just one part of the offers available to businesses in the points-based system, and therefore there may be a delay before existing sponsors decide to utilise this route.

Tier 2 was implemented in November 2008. There were four Tier 2 routes: General, Intra-company Transfer, Minister of Religion and Sportsperson.

5.2 Temporary Worker

The ‘Temporary Worker’ visa type includes shorter-term visas which do not typically lead to settlement.

Tier 5 was implemented in November 2008 to provide a route for those coming to the UK for primarily non-economic reasons. The Tier 5 routes were then closed at the end of 2020 and replaced by equivalent ‘Youth Mobility’ and ‘Temporary Worker’ routes.

The Seasonal Worker route was opened to new applicants from January 2019. This route came into effect within January to March 2019 as part of a series of annual pilots that provided 6-month visas for seasonal horticultural workers. The growth in this route reflects the quota increases for this visa, which increased from 2,500 visas in 2019 to a current quota of 40,000 in 2022, including 2,000 visas for temporary migrants to work in the UK poultry sector. More information can be found on the Seasonal Workers information page and in the Government food strategy, announced in June 2022.

The Creative Worker visa launched in October 2021 and replaces the creative element of the Tier 5 (Creative & Sporting) visa.

The UK Expansion Worker, Secondment Worker, Service Supplier, and Graduate Trainee visas from the Global Business Mobility routes, launched in April 2022, are also included in this visa category.

5.3 Investor, business development and talent

The ‘Investor, business development and talent’ category includes the Global Talent, Innovator, and Start-up visas, and the now closed Tier 1 routes.

Tier 1 of the PBS was phased in between February and June 2008 as a general route. However, from 2010, Tier 1 has focused on providing visas for ‘High value’ migrants only.

The Tier 1 Entrepreneur route was closed to most new applicants in March 2019 and replaced by the non-PBS Innovator route.

The Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur route was closed to new applicants in July 2019 and replaced by the non-PBS Start-up route.

The Tier 1 Exceptional Talent route was closed to new applicants in February 2020 and replaced by the non-PBS Global Talent route.

The Tier 1 Investor route was closed to new applicants in February 2022.

The remaining Tier 1 routes were closed at the end of 2020.

5.4 Certificate of sponsorship (CoS)

From October to December 2019, the method for extracting in-country and out-of-country Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) data changed. Data quality issues identified as part of this change in methodology has meant that some cases from October to December 2019 onwards are unable to be separately identified as either a visa or extension case, and so have been categorised as ‘unknown’.

Applicants for ‘Worker’ and ‘Temporary Worker’ visas (and extensions) must obtain a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) from a registered employer. Any organisation that wishes to sponsor a worker must be registered on the Home Office’s Register of Sponsors.

Further information about the CoS allocation process is given in the user guide and on the UK visa sponsorship for employers section of GOV.UK.

5.5 Other sources

Until 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published long-term international migration (LTIM) estimates in its ‘Migration Statistics Quarterly Report’ (latest data available is for the year ending March 2020). The ONS are currently reviewing their methods for measuring population and migration but have released provisional experimental statistics for the year ending June 2021.

6. Data tables

Data on immigration for work can be found in the following tables:

• Sponsorship summary tables
• Detailed sponsorship datasets
• Entry clearance visas summary tables
• Detailed Entry clearance visas datasets
• Admissions summary tables
• Extensions summary tables
• Detailed Extensions datasets

We welcome your feedback

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See section 6 of the ‘About this release’ section for more details.