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Why do people come to the UK? Work

Published 21 May 2026

© Crown copyright 2026

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

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

This release goes up to the year ending (YE) March 2026. The “year ending” period includes the 12 months up to and including the YE month. For example, YE March 2026 includes the 12 months between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.

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

There were 252,775 visas issued (including dependants) in all work categories in the YE March 2026, of which 166,576 were to main applicants and 86,199 were to dependants. This represents a fall of 17% compared to the previous year and 59% fewer than the YE December 2023 when the number of work visas peaked.

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

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Figure 1 shows between the YE March 2010 and YE March 2021 there were less than 200,000 work visas issued each year, of which over two-thirds were to main applicants. From the beginning of 2021, 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. Skilled Worker visas also contributed to the increase over this period. The growth in these routes was accompanied by a large increase in the number of dependants, causing work visas to peak in the YE December 2023 at 613,627, of which main applicants and dependants accounted for 336,007 and 277,620 respectively.

Work visas began to fall towards the end of 2023, driven by a decrease in Health and Care Worker visas, likely 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, however numbers on this route and the Skilled Worker route continued to fall 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 Skilled work routes: Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker

‘Skilled work’ visas are defined as the Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker routes in this section.

The number of skilled work 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 March 2026 there were 110,725 visas issued (including dependants) for skilled work routes, of which 40,254 were to main applications, and 70,471 were to dependants. Overall, there were 33% fewer grants compared to the previous year, and 76% fewer compared to the YE December 2023. The fall in skilled work visa grants is primarily due to a reduction in the number of applications (from 509,075 in the YE December 2023 to 131,880 in the YE March 2026), but there has also been an increase in the proportion of decisions that are refusals (16% in the YE March 2026 compared with 7% in the YE December 2023).

Figure 2: Skilled work visas granted by applicant type between the YE December 2021 and the YE March 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 38% to 42,658 in the YE March 2026, of which main applicants and dependants fell to 10,509 (-53%) and 32,149 (-30%) respectively.

Visas issued to Health and Care Worker main applicants increased from 31,800 in 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 82% (107,772 to 1,397) in YE March 2026 when compared with the YE December 2023, with marked falls in the latest 6 months, 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 68% (22,858 to 1,373) in the YE March 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.

Figure 3: Health and Care Worker visas granted to main applicants by occupation, between the YE March 2022 and the YE March 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 30% to 68,067 in the YE March 2026, of which main applicants and dependants fell to 29,745 (-39%) and 38,322 (-21%) 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 82% to 939. Food preparation and hospitality trades had been increasing since 2021, peaking in the YE June 2024 at 11,542, but numbers have continued to fall since. Visas issued for IT professionals decreased by 13% to 4,935 in the YE March 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 quarter.

1.2 Temporary workers

‘Temporary Worker’ visas granted to main applicants have remained broadly consistent over the last 3 years, with Seasonal Worker the most common route.

In the YE March 2026 there were 82,839 visas issued for ‘Temporary Workers’, 7% higher than 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 20% were for other temporary work routes.

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

Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02

Figure 4 shows that there were 43,250 grants of Seasonal Worker visas in the YE March 2026, 25% 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, which partly explains the overall growth in ‘Temporary Worker’ visas issued compared to the YE December 2019.

Central Asian nationalities (such as Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan) together represent over three-quarters (78%) of grants of Seasonal Worker visas in the YE March 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, but there were only 502 Seasonal Worker visas granted to Ukrainians in the YE March 2026.

The number of Youth Mobility Scheme visas issued in the YE March 2026 was 3% lower than the previous year at 21,157. Australia was the most common nationality to be granted Youth Mobility Scheme visas, accounting for 38% of grants (8,097) in the latest year. Numbers also include the India Young Professionals Scheme, which held its first ballot in February 2023.

Graduate, Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker extensions comprise nearly 95% of all work-route grants of further leave to remain, with increases observed in the latest year in Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker routes.

Source: Extensions detailed tables – Exe_D01

Notes:

  1. The ‘Skilled Worker’ subcategory in the chart incorporates Tier 2 (General) route extensions before 2023, and the combined Skilled Worker and Health and Care extensions up to 2022, before these could be separately identified from the data.
  2. ‘Other work visa extensions’ represents the remaining work extension subcategories which are not shown separately in the chart.

Extension of stay grants for work routes (including dependants) remained stable over the latest year at 738,132. Extension grants for both the Health and Care Worker and Skilled Worker routes continued to increase over the latest year. In the YE March 2026, Health and Care Worker extension grants rose by 25% from the YE March 2025, reaching 328,232. Skilled Worker extensions also increased over the same period, up 16% to 199,117.

This growth reflects the high number 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, aimed at reducing the number of individuals entering the UK on these routes.

The highest numbers of Health and Care Worker extensions in the YE March 2026 were issued to Indian (107,306), Nigerian (89,575) and Zimbabwean (31,117) nationals. The highest numbers of Skilled Worker extensions in the YE March 2026 were issued to Indian (89,851), Pakistani (16,607) and Nigerian (13,409) nationals. These totals reflect previously high levels of entry clearance granted to these nationalities on the same routes.

Graduate route extension grants fell by 36% in the YE March 2026, decreasing to 167,214 compared with YE March 2025. This decline was primarily driven by a sharp reduction in grants issued to dependants, falling by 75% over this period.

The reduction in dependant extensions may partly reflect changes introduced in January 2024 that restricted most students from bringing dependants to the UK. As the latest figures are likely to include individuals, particularly dependants of bachelor’s students arriving for multi-year courses, who began their studies prior to these changes, the full impact may not yet be reflected. However, students who began their studies in the UK on a postgraduate taught (PGT) course typically lasting one year from January 2024 onwards were generally unable to bring dependants, which may have partly contributed to the decline in Graduate dependant grants in the latest year.

The highest numbers of Graduate extensions were issued to Indian (70,371), Pakistani (24,404) and Nigerian (22,099) nationals. Despite this, extension grants for each of these nationalities fell compared with the previous year, with the most pronounced decline observed among Nigerian nationals, where grants fell by nearly two-thirds.

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 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.

3.1 Sponsorship licensing for work and study

At the year ending March 2026, there were 124,837 organisations registered as licensed sponsors for skilled work and 4,909 for temporary work, compared to 28,734 and 3,952, respectively, in 2019 before the introduction of the new Immigration system following the UK’s departure from the EU. 

Overall, there were 32,301 work sponsor licences decided in the YE March 2026, compared to 37,233 in the previous year. Of these, 17,200 licences were granted (24% fewer than the year before), and 15,101 were not granted (including both applications withdrawn and those rejected).

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 in this chapter show the number of grants and refusals on applications for extension of temporary stay in the UK. 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 under the ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Skilled Worker Health and Care Worker’ visas were not separated into specific subcategories; instead, they were reported as a single, combined figure. Since 2023, however, these extensions have been classified under distinct categories: either ‘Skilled Worker’ or ‘Skilled Worker Health and Care Worker’.

5. Data tables

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

We welcome your feedback

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

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