Indian students have overtaken Chinese students as the largest group of foreign students studying in the UK for the first time, with a whopping 273 per cent increase in visas over the past few years, according to the country’s official immigration data released on Thursday.
UK Home Office data collated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows Indians are the top nationality visas granted in the skilled worker category, with 56,042 work visas granted last year. Indian nationals represented the largest number at 36 per cent of total visas under the Tailored Skilled Worker Health and Care visa targeted at medical professionals, which strengthens the Indian contribution to the state-funded National Health Service (NHS).
“127,731 were [study visa] Grants to main applicant Indian nationals in the year ending September 2022, an increase of 93,470 (273 per cent) compared to 2019 (34,261),” the Home Office said.
Chinese nationals were the second most common nationality-sponsored study visa granted in the year ending September 2022, with 116,476 visas granted to main applicants, a 2 percent decrease from the number seen in 2019 (119,231).
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The new Graduate Route visa, introduced in July last year to give international students a chance to stay and work at the end of their degree, was also granted by Indians – 41 per cent of the visas were granted.
The special High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, launched in May this year to attract bright graduates from top universities around the world to work in the UK, grants Indian nationals a 14 per cent subsidy while no Indian university is operational Not there. Approved set of top global universities.
Figures show study visas for Indian, Nigerian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationals are now three times higher than in 2019, which is seen as a key factor behind UK immigration figures reaching record levels over the past year Is.
Overall ONS data shows net migration to the UK is set to rise from 173,000 in the year to June 2021 to 504,000 in the year to June 2022 – an increase of 331,000 after Brexit.
The end of lockdown restrictions, the first full period of data on post-Brexit infections, the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the resettlement of Afghans, and a new visa pathway for Hong Kong British citizens (overseas) have all contributed to the “long-term immigration record”. Level”.
Jay Lindop, director of the Center for International Migration at the ONS, said: “A series of world events in the 12 months to June 2022 have affected international migration patterns. Together they were unprecedented.”
“Migration from non-EU countries, particularly students, is driving this growth. With the lifting of travel restrictions in 2021, more students arrive in the UK during distance learning coronavirus pandemic,” she said.
However, there has also been a large increase in the number of people migrating for various other reasons. This includes people coming for humanitarian protection, such as those coming from Ukraine, as well as for family reasons,” she said.
“These multiple factors, independent of each other, contributing to migration at this time mean it is too early to say whether this picture will persist,” Lindop said.
The data will be of concern to the Conservative Party-led government, which has a commitment to reduce “overall” migration by some, reiterated in recent weeks and months by UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman.
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