In a striking revelation from the official immigration statistics released by the UK Home Office, Indian skilled workers, medical professionals, and students have maintained their stronghold in the UK’s visa landscape over the past year.
The data, collated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) for the year ending September 2023, showcases the significant presence of Indian nationals in various visa categories.
Skilled Worker Visa Domination by Indians
The skilled worker visa route witnessed a modest rise of 9%, with Indian nationals leading the tally. However, the Health and Care Visa route stole the spotlight, experiencing an impressive surge of 135%, with people from India accounting for 38,866 grants, marking a 76% increase.
Student Visa Landscape
People from India continued to represent the largest group in the post-study graduate visa route, comprising 43% of grants. Sponsored study visa grants to Indian nationals reached 133,237, reflecting a small but noteworthy increase of 5% compared to the previous year.
The numbers have now surged nearly five times higher than in the year ending September 2019, solidifying the prominence of Indian students in the UK.
Dependents and Family Dynamics
In the category of dependents, the latest figures reveal a shift. While Nigerian nationals took the lead with 60,506 dependents, people from India secured the second position, increasing from 2,127 to 43,445 in the same time period.
A recent crackdown on overseas students bringing in dependent family members has led to adjustments in these figures, aligning with the government’s commitment to regulating migration statistics.
Global Mobility Partnership Impact
Against the backdrop of the India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership, the voluntary returns of illegal migrants to the UK saw two-thirds being primarily Albanian, Indian, and Chinese nationals. This partnership appears to have strategic implications for the migration dynamics between the two countries.
Overall Migration Trends
The Conservative Party-led UK government, committed to reducing overall migration, noted a small drop in figures. The ONS migration figures until June 2023 reported a net migration of 672,000, lower than the previous year. The top five nationalities for immigration flows outside the European Union were Indian, Nigerian, Chinese, Pakistani, and Ukrainian.
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