TBM Staff - Mumbai Indian skilled workers, medical professionals and students held on to their domination in the UK’s visa tally over the past year, according to official immigration statistics released yesterday. The Office for National Statistics data collated by the UK Home Office for the year ending September 2023 shows that Indian nationals topped not only the ‘Skilled Worker’ visa route but also the ‘Health and Care’ visa route. In the students’ visa category, Indian nationals continued to represent the largest group of students granted leave to remain on the post-study Graduate visa route, representing 43 per cent of grants.
“While ‘Skilled Worker’ visas have only seen a modest rise in the past year ( 9 per cent), ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa grants have more than doubled ( 135 per cent) to 1,43,990,” the Home Office analysis notes. “There were 1,33,237 sponsored study visa grants to Indian nationals in (the) year ending September 2023, a small increase of 5,804 ( 5 per cent) compared to the same period last year, but their number is now nearly five times higher than in the year ending September 2019. Indian nationals accounted for over one-quarter of all sponsored study grants to main applicants in the latest year,” the analysis notes. Indian nationals also continued to account for the highest proportion (27 per cent) of tourist ‘Visitor’ visas granted, followed by Chinese (19 per cent) and Turkish nationals (6 per cent). (Source: The Business Line)
