UK Work and Study Visa Applications Plunge 30% in October 2025
UK visa applications for work and study fell sharply in October 2025, with official data showing a 30 per cent year-on-year drop to 11,300 across key migration routes.
Health and Care Worker Visas
The Health and Care Worker route has undergone one of the most significant declines. After rising from 4,100 to 18,300 monthly applications between early 2022 and mid-2023—following the addition of care workers to the Shortage Occupation List—numbers fell rapidly once enhanced employer checks were introduced in March 2024.
Monthly applications dropped to 2,400 shortly after the changes and declined further to just 600 in October 2025. The fall aligns with new rules that largely end overseas recruitment for care roles, limiting future applications to individuals already in the UK who are switching visa categories.
Skilled Worker Visas
Demand for Skilled Worker visas has also weakened. Applications remained at about 6,000 per month for nearly two years, with a brief rise to 10,100 in April 2024 before new requirements took effect. Since then, applications have continued to fall, reaching 2,400 in October 2025. Analysts attribute the downturn to the higher skill and salary thresholds introduced in July 2025, which now require jobs to be at RQF level 6 or above and offer a minimum salary of £41,700, up from £38,700.
Policy Changes
Both routes have been affected by measures set out in the Home Office’s Restoring Control over the Immigration System white paper. Announced in May 2025 and implemented in July, the reforms aim to reduce reliance on overseas labour and raise entry standards.
While the salary threshold for Health and Care Worker visas remains £25,000, the prohibition on new international care worker applications has effectively closed one of the UK’s largest recruitment streams. Existing care workers may continue switching visas domestically until 2028, but new entrants can no longer apply from abroad.
Student Visas
The student visa route shows a mixed pattern. Applications from main applicants reached 434,000 in the year to October 2025, a rise of seven per cent compared with the previous year but still 13 per cent below 2023 levels. The most substantial decline is among dependants, with only 22,400 applications in the year to October 2025—an 85 per cent reduction from late 2023.
This aligns with rules introduced in January 2024 restricting dependant eligibility to postgraduate researchers and recipients of government-funded scholarships. Seasonal increases in August and December persist, but overall numbers continue to trend downward.
