UK visas for health, care workers slump following move to cut immigration

LONDON: The number of British visas granted to foreign health and care workers and family members of international students fell sharply after the previous Conservative government imposed restrictions to reduce net migration.

High levels of legal migration have long dominated Britain’s political discourse and were one of the major drivers for the Brexit referendum in 2016.

Britain granted 89,095 health and care worker visas in the year ending in June, down 26% compared with a year earlier. Between April and June, the number of granted visas for these workers was down 81% year-on-year.

As part of efforts to bring down net immigration, the previous government tightened visa rules, introducing higher salary thresholds and curbs on care workers bringing in family members.

While visas granted to dependants of overseas students in the first six months of this year fell by 81% to 11,675 compared to the same period a year earlier.

Britain boasts some of the most famous and sought after universities in the world, from Oxford and Cambridge to Imperial College London. Business leaders argue they boost innovation, increase creativity and provide a form of soft power.

But some British ministers in the last government complained that some students and their dependants were applying for visas and then claim asylum or overstay.

Polls show that controlling immigration is now the most important issue for British voters for the first time in eight years, following far-right riots targeting Muslims and migrants that began earlier this month.