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Why do people come to the UK? Work

Published 27 August 2026

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-june-2026/why-do-people-come-to-the-uk-work

Back to ‘Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026’ contents page

This release goes up to the year ending (YE) June 2026. The “year ending” period includes the 12 months up to and including the YE month. For example, YE June 2026 includes the 12 months between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026.

Work-related visa grants have decreased over the last 2 and a half years, largely due to a decline in Health and Care Worker visas.

There were 234,841 visas issued (including dependants) in all work categories in the YE June 2026, of which 158,722 were to main applicants and 76,119 were to dependants. This represents a fall of 18% compared to the previous year and 62% fewer than the YE December 2023 when the number of work visas peaked.

Figure 1: Work visas granted by applicant type between the YE June 2010 and the YE June 2026

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Figure 1 shows between the YE June 2010 and YE June 2021 there were less than 200,000 work visas issued each year, of which over two-thirds were to main applicants. During this time the UK was a member of the European Union (EU) and, as such, EU nationals did not require a visa to work in the UK due to freedom of movement. Between 2021 and 2023, there was an increase in the number of work visas granted. Visas on the Health and Care Worker route, in particular, grew sharply following the expansion of the route in February 2022 to boost the social care workforce and was accompanied by a large increase in the number of dependants. Skilled Worker visas also contributed to the increase over this period. The growth in these routes caused work visas to peak in the YE December 2023 at 613,627. Combined Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker accounted for 76% of all work visas in the same period.

The number of work visas issued began to fall towards the end of 2023, driven by a decrease in Health and Care Worker visas, due to more scrutiny applied by the Home Office to employers in the health and social care sector, and compliance activity taken against employers who did not fulfil their obligations as employers of migrant workers.

In December 2023, the Home Office announced policy changes for work visas, which came into effect at various points in 2024. Health and Care Worker visas had fallen prior to the changes and continued to fall steadily following the change. Numbers on the Skilled Worker route have also fallen steadily following the changes. Additional policy changes targeting the Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker visa routes were announced in the Immigration white paper and the first changes were implemented on 22 July 2025, following which there has been a further decline in numbers.

The Home Office has published monthly updates on applications for key work visa types - see ‘Monthly statistical releases on migration’ for further information.

1.1 Worker visas

The ‘Worker’ visa category includes sponsored work visas for longer stays which typically offer a direct pathway to settlement, and includes Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker visas.

The number of Worker visas issued has continued to decrease in the latest year, with the largest falls coming from those on a Health and Care Worker visa in Caring Personal Service and Nursing Professional occupations.

In the YE June 2026 there were 120,105 visas issued (including dependants) for ‘Worker’ visas, of which 49,205 were to main applicants, and 70,900 were to dependants. Overall, there were 30% fewer grants compared to the previous year, and 76% fewer compared to the YE December 2023. The fall in ‘Worker’ visa grants is primarily driven by the Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker routes. The volume of applications received for these routes, combined, has decreased (from 509,075 in the YE December 2023 to 114,466 in the YE June 2026) and there has also been an increase in the proportion of decisions that are refusals (15% in the YE June 2026 compared with 7% in the YE December 2023).

Figure 2: Worker visas granted between the YE December 2021 and the YE June 2026

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Compared to the previous year, the number of Health and Care Worker visas issued has fallen by 45% to 34,143 in the YE June 2026, of which main applicants and dependants fell to 7,228 (-65%) and 26,915 (-35%) respectively.

Dependants accounted for 79% of Health and Care Worker visas issued in the YE June 2026. The higher number of dependants compared to main applicants may be partly due to migrants already in the UK, many of whom will have been sponsored prior to the changes in July 2025 restricting dependents for medium skilled occupations, continuing to be eligible to bring family members from abroad.

Visas issued to Health and Care Worker main applicants increased from 31,800 in the YE December 2021 to a peak of 145,823 in the YE December 2023. The rise was primarily due to an increase in South Asian (Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi) and Sub-Saharan African (Zimbabwean, Ghanaian, and Nigerian) nationals coming to work as care workers. The number of Health and Care Worker visas issued to migrant workers in a Caring Personal Service occupation fell by over 99% (107,772 to 344) in YE June 2026 when compared with the YE December 2023, following the end to overseas recruitment of care workers in July 2025.

The number of Health and Care Worker visas issued to nursing professionals fell by 95% (22,858 to 1,125) in the YE June 2026, when compared with the YE December 2023. This may be attributable to, according to the Department for Health and Social Care, the end of the centrally supported nurse international recruitment programme and changes in demand for international staff.

Medical practitioners account for the majority (59%) of Health and Care Worker visas issued in the YE June 2026, though numbers have decreased by 42% in the latest year.

Figure 3: Health and Care Worker visas granted to main applicants by occupation, between the YE June 2022 and the YE June 2026

Source: Sponsored work visas by occupation and industry (SOC 2020) – Occ_D02

Compared to the previous year, visas issued for the Skilled Worker route decreased by 26% to 61,120 in the YE June 2026, of which main applicants and dependants fell to 26,894 (-30%) and 34,226 (-23%) respectively.

Decreases can be seen across a range of occupations, but the majority of the fall to main applicants in the latest year is accounted for by fewer grants for food preparation and hospitality trades - down 76% to 528. Visas issued for IT professionals decreased by 7% to 4,674 in the YE June 2026 compared to the previous year, which follows a longer-term decrease since the YE December 2022, but remains the most common occupation for Skilled Worker main applicants.

Following increases to the skill level requirements, over 100 occupations are no longer eligible for the Skilled Worker visa route. Affected roles could no longer be sponsored on this route from 22 July 2025, leading to a reduced number of Skilled Worker applications and grants in the latest year.

1.2 Temporary workers

The number of ‘Temporary Worker’ visas granted to main applicants has remained broadly stable over the last 3 years, with Seasonal Worker the most common route.

In the YE June 2026 there were 79,942 visas issued for ‘Temporary Workers’, similar to the previous year. The vast majority (98%) of ‘Temporary Worker’ visas were to main applicants; of which over half (53%) were Seasonal Worker visas, 26% were for Youth Mobility Scheme visas, and the remaining 21% were for other temporary work routes.

Figure 4: ‘Temporary Worker’ visas granted to main applicants, between the YE June 2019 and the YE June 2026

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Figure 4 shows that there were 41,766 grants of Seasonal Worker visas in the YE June 2026, 10% higher than the previous year. The Seasonal Worker route was launched in March 2019 with the number of visas that could be granted limited to 2,500 that year. The annual quota has since increased to 47,000 for 2024 and 45,000 for 2025.

Central Asian nationalities (such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) together represent nearly four-fifths (79%) of Seasonal Worker visas issued in the YE June 2026. Ukrainian nationals were the largest recipients of Seasonal Worker visas prior to the start of the war in Ukraine and the launch of the Ukraine visa schemes in 2022, with 19,894 visas issued to Ukrainians in YE December 2021. However, 429 Seasonal Worker visas were granted to Ukrainians in the YE June 2026.

The number of Youth Mobility Scheme visas issued in the YE June 2026 was 6% lower than the previous year at 20,323. Australia was the most common nationality to be granted Youth Mobility Scheme visas, accounting for 38% of grants (7,728) in the latest year. Numbers also include the India Young Professionals Scheme, which held its first ballot in February 2023.

Work-related extension grants remained broadly stable in the YE June 2026, as increases in Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker extensions largely offset a fall in Graduate route extensions

Source: Extensions detailed tables – Exe_D01

Notes:

  1. The ‘Tier 2 - General and early points-based system successor’ subcategory includes Tier 2 (General) extension grants made before 2023, and Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker extension grants made up to 2022, when these routes could not be separately identified in the administrative data.
  2. ‘Other work visa extensions’ represents the remaining work extension subcategories which are not shown separately in the chart.

The number of extensions of stay granted for work routes (including dependants) fell by 4% to 730,849 in the YE June 2026. While extension grants continued to increase for Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker routes, the overall fall primarily reflected the 39% fall in Graduate route extensions granted, to 157,356. The decline in Graduate route grants was largely attributable to an 81% decrease in grants issued to dependants. The fall in Graduate dependant extensions may partly reflect changes introduced in January 2024, that restricted most students from bringing dependants to the UK. This led to fewer dependants granted visas from 2024, and therefore fewer eligible dependants able to apply for the Graduate route; many of whom would have accompanied students studying 1-year postgraduate courses. Indian (64,495), Pakistani (22,383) and Nigerian (20,604) nationals were granted the highest numbers of Graduate route extensions in the YE June 2026. In line with the overall trend, extension grants for all three nationalities declined compared with the previous year.

In contrast to the Graduate route, Health and Care Worker extension grants rose by 19% in the YE June 2026, reaching 336,215. Skilled Worker extension grants also increased over the same period, by 11% to 196,097. These increases reflect the high numbers of entry clearance grants issued in 2022 and 2023, with many individuals who arrived during that period now seeking to extend their stay and continue working in the UK. A large proportion of those extending in the latest year are likely to have been less affected by policy changes introduced from 2024 onwards that were aimed at reducing the number of individuals entering the UK on these routes.

In 2025, over half (57%) of individuals who were granted an extension of stay on a work route had previously held leave on a work route. A further 40% of individuals granted an extension of stay on a Work visa in 2025 had previously held leave on a Study route. Of these individuals, most had transitioned from a Study visa to the Graduate route.

Additional insights from the Migrant journey: 2025 report

Analysis from the Migrant journey: 2025 report shows that, in 2025, 30% of the work cohort that arrived in the UK 5 years earlier had been granted indefinite leave to remain. While this continues an upward trend, which can be observed since the 2015 cohort, it suggests that most workers do not remain in the UK on a permanent basis. Recent changes in work-related UK arrivals, including more skilled workers and changing demographics of those arriving, are likely to affect how many permanently stay in future years.

The proportion who remain, and are granted indefinite leave, varies by route, and is considerably higher for migrant workers coming on a ‘Tier 2 – General’ visa where, in 2025, 83% of individuals that arrived 5 years earlier held valid leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain. Temporary workers by the nature of their visa are less likely to stay long term, needing to obtain a new type of visa to do so. In 2025, 21% who arrived in 2020 on a ‘Temporary Worker’ visa still held leave 5 years later.

The Home Office publishes the number of Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker visa applications by month in the Monthly entry clearance visa applications publication.

The Home Office also publishes data on sponsors and sponsorship licensing on a quarterly basis as part of the Migration transparency data series.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish long-term international migration estimates. These are statistics under development that estimate the number of people immigrating to and emigrating from the UK for 12 months or more.

4. 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. Further information and definitions can be found in the user guide.

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 refers 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.

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 in the published tables.

Extensions of temporary stay in the UK relate to individuals inside the UK extending or changing the status of their right to stay in the UK. An individual is required to apply for an extension or change in status before their existing permission to enter or stay in the UK expires.

The statistics on extensions in this chapter show the number of grants on applications, with data on refusals also available as part of the published extensions data tables One individual may have made multiple applications for an extension, so may account for multiple decisions. Data in this section includes dependants and takes account of the outcomes of reconsiderations and appeals.

Before 2023, extensions granted under the Skilled Worker route were published as a single combined category, ‘Skilled Worker/ Health and Care Worker’. Since 2023, they have been reported separately as ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Health and Care Worker’ extensions.

5. Data tables

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

We welcome your feedback

If you have any comments or suggestions for the development of this report, please provide feedback by emailing MigrationStatsEnquiries@homeoffice.gov.uk. Please include the words ‘PUBLICATION FEEDBACK’ in the subject of your email.

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

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