According to official immigration data from the United Kingdom, Indians topped the skilled worker and student visa tally last year.
According to an Economic Times report, the data was compiled by the Office of National Statistics (ONS), under UK Home Office and it revealed that Indians were the top nationality for cross-sector skilled work, which included healthcare visas aimed at filling staff shortages in the National Health Service (NHS).
According to the figures provided, net migration in 2022 hit a record high of 606,000, putting more pressure on Prime Minister Mr. Rishi Sunak. The surge in numbers was driven by non-European nationalities, including refugees through the British government’s Ukraine visa programmes and those moving for jobs and education.
According to the data, Indian nationals stipulated the highest percentage of students granted visas under the new graduate post-study job route, accounting for 41% of all grants. Indian nationals were the top nationality for visas in the ‘Worker’ category, representing one-third (33%) of grants, and were by far the top nationality for both the ‘Skilled Worker’ and ‘Skilled Worker-Health and Care’ visas.
According to the statistics, “Nigeria had the highest number of dependants (66,796) of sponsored study visa holders in the year ending March 2023, up from 27,137 in the year ending March 2022. The number of dependents among Indian nationals increased from 22,598 to 42,381.
The official data comes only one day after the UK government decided to bar many overseas students from bringing their families as dependents. The government only allowed PhD students to bring their relatives.
A total of 138,532 sponsored study visa permits to Indian citizens were made in the fiscal year ending March 2023. This was a 63% rise over the previous year.
