The Home Office published Immigration system statistics for the year ending June 2026 on Thursday, 27 August 2026. The tables cover 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026. Work visas granted, including dependants, numbered 234,841, down 18% on the prior year and 62% below the year-ending December 2023 peak of 613,627. Worker visas (skilled worker plus Health and Care Worker) numbered 120,105, 76% below the same peak. Main applicants on Worker routes numbered 49,205. Dependants numbered 70,900.
Read the tables as a map of your next filing. The 22 July 2025 skill-threshold restoration removed over 100 occupations from Skilled Worker sponsorship. Overseas recruitment of care workers ended in July 2025. If you hold Health and Care Worker leave, or a Skilled Worker Certificate of Sponsorship, match your SOC 2020 code against the current eligible list before you ask a sponsor to file a new Certificate of Sponsorship.
Health and Care Worker grants collapse
Health and Care Worker visas fell 45% to 34,143. Main applicants fell 65% to 7,228. Dependants fell 35% to 26,915. Dependants still made up 79% of Health and Care Worker grants. A large share of those dependants join workers already inside the United Kingdom, because people sponsored before the July 2025 dependant restriction for medium-skilled occupations remain eligible to bring family from abroad.
Caring Personal Service occupations, the former care-worker pipeline, fell from 107,772 main-applicant grants in the year ending December 2023 to 344 in the latest year, a drop of more than 99%. Nursing professional grants on the Health and Care Worker route fell from 22,858 to 1,125, a 95% drop. Medical practitioners now form 59% of Health and Care Worker visas, even after a 42% year-on-year fall. Do not treat a care-home job offer from overseas as a live visa path. People already on the route still extend. Health and Care Worker extensions rose 19% to 336,215. If your current leave ends in 2026 or 2027, file the extension inside the usual 28-day window and keep payslips, hours records, and sponsor licence evidence ready.
Skilled Worker grants fall to 61,120
Skilled Worker visas fell 26% to 61,120. Main applicants fell 30% to 26,894. Dependants fell 23% to 34,226. Food preparation and hospitality trades fell 76% to 528. Information technology professionals remain the most common Skilled Worker occupation, with 4,674 grants, down 7%.
Worker-route applications for Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker combined fell from 509,075 in the year ending December 2023 to 114,466. The refusal share of decisions rose from 7% to 15%. A Certificate of Sponsorship no longer guarantees a grant. Ask your sponsor to confirm the SOC code, the RQF 6 skill level, and the going-rate salary before the company pays the Immigration Skills Charge. Temporary Worker visas numbered 79,942. Seasonal Worker grants rose 10% to 41,766. Youth Mobility Scheme grants fell 6% to 20,323. Temporary routes offer no direct settlement path.
Study, family, and asylum numbers around your route
Sponsored study visas fell 11% to 383,455, and 41% below the year-ending June 2023 peak. Chinese main applicants numbered 86,368. Indian main applicants numbered 82,523. Graduate route extensions fell 39% to 157,356 after an 81% drop in dependant grants. Indian, Pakistani, and Nigerian nationals still received the largest Graduate route totals, at 64,495, 22,383, and 20,604.
Family visas fell 19% to 57,590. Refugee Family Reunion grants fell 38% to 12,888 after the 4 September 2025 freeze on new applications. Partner visas fell 8% to 38,902. Family-related extensions rose 46% to 82,400. If you planned a Refugee Family Reunion filing, the freeze still stands. Appendix FM Partner remains the open family path, subject to the 29,000 pound minimum income requirement in force since April 2024.
Asylum claims fell 21% to 85,891 people. The initial-decision grant rate dropped to 38% from 48%. The Home Office issued 115,872 initial decisions and granted protection or other leave to 42,394 people. Refusals rose 23% to 73,478. People waiting for an initial decision numbered 40,168 at the end of June 2026, down 56% and the lowest total since June 2019. Graduate visa holders accounted for 5,130 asylum claims, more than double the prior year.
Settlement clocks for 2021 to 2023 arrivals
Indefinite leave grants rose 8% to 537,698. EU Settlement Scheme settled status made up 336,229 of the total, including 78,210 automated upgrades from pre-settled status. Settlement on other routes rose 24% to 199,628, the highest annual total since the year ending June 2011. Work-route settlement rose 36% to 80,409. British National (Overseas) settlement jumped from 587 to 38,373 as 2021 arrivals completed five years. Indian nationals received 35,384 settlement grants. Hong Kong nationals received 22,593. Chinese nationals received 21,300. British citizenship grants fell 4% to 245,520.
Returns from the United Kingdom numbered 40,605, with 30,936 voluntary and 9,669 enforced. Small-boat returns rose 35% to 3,310 after the UK-France Agreement on the Prevention of Dangerous Journeys began operational delivery on 6 August 2025.
- SOC 2020 code: Match the code on your Certificate of Sponsorship against the eligible occupation list in force from 22 July 2025. Food preparation and hospitality roles largely left the list.
- Health and Care Worker extension: File inside the 28-day window. Bring 6 months of payslips, contracted hours, and a current sponsor licence printout.
- ILR for 2021 to 2023 arrivals: Count five years from your entry stamp or eVisa start date. Order P60s and travel history now.
- BN(O) holders from 2021: Settlement grants on the route reached 38,373. Submit once you complete five years of continuous residence.
- Partner visa: The 29,000 pound income threshold still applies. Family extensions rose 46%, so processing desks stay busy. File early.
If you arrived on a Skilled Worker or Health and Care Worker visa in 2021, 2022, or 2023, run your five-year continuous-residence calculation tonight. Keep absences under 180 days in any rolling 12-month period. File ILR as soon as the qualifying day arrives, because later rule changes on qualifying periods sit in the 2025 white paper track. Work extensions still run high, at 730,849, down only 4%, so 2022 and 2023 cohorts will hit settlement desks through 2027 and 2028.
Feedback
Was this article helpful?
Your answer helps us improve guides and editorial priorities.
