UK hands out fewer visas after new rules slash work and study permits

The number of visas issued to foreign nationals entering the UK for work, study, family, or humanitarian purposes has fallen sharply, new data from the Home Office shows.

A total of 834,977 visas were granted in the year to June 2025 across these categories — down 32 percent from 1.23 million in the previous 12 months.

Work-related visas saw the steepest drop, plunging 48 percent from 545,855 to 286,071. Study visas fell by 18 percent, from 530,312 to 435,891, while family visas decreased by 15 percent, from 83,912 to 70,961.

In humanitarian and resettlement categories, 14,216 visas were issued under the Ukraine schemes (down 48 percent year-on-year), 11,804 to British National Overseas (BNO) status holders from Hong Kong (down 47 percent), and 9,357 under the EU Settlement Scheme (down 34 percent). A further 3,640 visas went to dependants, and 3,037 were issued under other settlement schemes.

The overall figure is the lowest for any 12-month period since September 2021, when 802,415 visas were issued.

The sharp fall follows changes to legal migration rules introduced last year by the previous Conservative government. These included restrictions on international students bringing family members and a ban on overseas care workers bringing dependants.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the government’s actions have been key to “restoring order” to the immigration system.

“We inherited a broken immigration and asylum system that the previous government left in chaos,” she said.

“Since coming to office, we have strengthened Britain’s visa and immigration controls, cut asylum costs and sharply increased enforcement and returns, as today’s figures show.

“The action we have taken in the last 12 months — increasing returns of failed asylum seekers by over 30 percent, cutting asylum costs by 11 percent, reducing the backlog by 18 percent and our forthcoming plans to overhaul the failing asylum appeal system — are crucial steps to restoring order and putting an end to the chaotic use of asylum hotels that we inherited from the previous government.

“At the same time, we are bringing legal migration back under control, with a 48 percent reduction in work visas this year — and further stronger visa controls and higher skill requirements introduced through our White Paper expected to bring those overall numbers down further.”