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The Independent
28-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Number of UK visas issued for work, study, family or resettlement falls by third
Nearly 935,000 visas were issued in 2024 to people coming to the UK for work, study or family reasons, or through one of the Government's settlement schemes, according to new Home Office data. The figure, which covers main applicants and dependants, is down by a third (33%) from just under 1.4 million in 2023. The fall has been driven by a steep drop in the number of people issued with work-related visas, which was down 40% from 613,627 in 2023 to 369,419 last year. The number of study visas fell year-on-year by 31% from 604,253 to 419,312. By contrast, there was a small rise in family visas, up 7% from 80,083 to 86,049. Among the resettlement categories, 19,346 visas were issued under the Ukraine schemes (down 52% year-on-year), 19,273 were granted to British National Overseas status holders from Hong Kong (down 32%), and 13,869 were under the EU Settlement Scheme (down 20%). In addition, 3,864 were for dependants joining or accompanying others and 3,426 were under other settlement schemes. The total number of visas issued across all these categories last year, 934,558, is down sharply from 1,393,079 in 2023. It is also the lowest total for any 12-month period since the year to December 2021, when the figure stood at 858,766. The drop is likely to reflect changes in legal migration rules introduced since January 2024 by the previous Conservative government, including a ban on overseas care workers and students bringing family dependants, and a steep rise in the salary threshold for skilled workers to £38,700. Visas issued for health and care workers and their families have tumbled from 348,157 in 2023 to 110,833 last year – a fall of 68% – while the number of student dependants saw an even larger percentage drop, down 85% year-on-year from 143,267 to 21,976. Dr Ben Brindle, researcher at the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, said: 'The past few years have seen a 'boom and bust' in some visa categories, particularly students' family members and health and care visas. 'The large declines in visa grants have been possible primarily because the number of visas previously being issued in the post-Brexit immigration system was so high. 'Despite the declines, overall visa grants to non-EU citizens remain well above pre-Brexit levels.' Christina McAnea, general secretary of the public service union Unison, described the drop in health and care worker visas as 'worrying', adding: 'Without the support of workers from overseas, the social care sector would have collapsed long ago. 'Pay rates remain low so care employers are struggling to fill many thousands of vacancies. 'Hostile words and actions from the previous government, notably the ban on dependants, undoubtedly put off many overseas care staff from coming to work in the UK. 'Other care workers will have been deterred by the many horror stories of the abuse and exploitation of migrants at the hands of cowboy care operators.' Meanwhile, the director of think tank British Future, Sunder Katwala, said the politics of immigration have yet to 'catch up' with the new reality of falling numbers coming to the UK, particularly in health and social care. 'Keir Starmer's government should not compete in a public auction with the Conservatives or Reform on who can call for the lowest number,' Mr Katwala said. 'He is constrained by the fact that the Government has to deliver, not just make promises.' Mr Katwala called for the Government's upcoming Immigration White Paper to clarify Labour's aims, and include a yearly plan 'which reflects voters' desire for control of immigration with public recognition of the contribution it can make to much-needed economic growth'. Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle said the Government is ensuring legal migration 'continues to come down' and that action has been taken to reverse some 'loosening' of visa requirements previously introduced, where 'evidence of abuse' was found. 'Under the Plan for Change our Immigration White Paper will set out a comprehensive plan to restore order to our broken immigration system,' the minister added.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Cambridge takes up to £4.9m from Chinese Communist Party-linked donor
The University of Cambridge accepted donations of up to £4.9 million from a Hong Kong property tycoon with close ties to the city's sanctioned leaders and the Chinese Communist Party, The Telegraph can reveal. Cambridge was under pressure on Thursday night to hand back the cash amid claims that accepting the 'tainted' money compromised its academic independence. The donor Daryl Ng, who is estimated to be worth more than £11billion and whose family's business empire includes the Sino Group, has worked for both Carrie Lam and John Lee Ka-chiu, the former and serving chief executives of Hong Kong respectively. Mr Ng has served on two regional advisory committees in mainland China, which form part of the Chinese Communist Party's governing structures, and has praised Beijing's approach to Hong Kong. Both Lam and Lee were sanctioned by the US Treasury in 2020 for their crackdown on free speech and political freedoms in the city, carried out at the behest of Beijing. It was widely condemned by western Governments after causing mass protests. The UK has also accused Hong Kong's leaders and Beijing of reneging on legal commitments that the city maintain a high degree of autonomy. Since the clampdown began, more than 150,000 Hongkongers have fled to Britain under the British National Overseas visa route. Now, a freedom of information request has revealed that Cambridge University last year accepted a donation of between £1 million and £4.99 million from Mr Ng to fund a land economy PhD scholarship. Cambridge refused to specify the exact sum. Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, said Cambridge should hand back the money. He said: 'What Cambridge is trying to do is to disguise the nature of his links to the Chinese Communist Party and try to do it in a way that doesn't alert anybody. But they have been found out. 'This is not the only time. My worry is that Cambridge has pretty much sold out to China. Anything that comes from China is going to be money that is tainted by the CCP's own actions. 'It is a brutal Government that practises genocide and slave labour. Cambridge should hand [the donation] back.' Luke de Pulford, the executive director of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: 'This is a characteristic failure of due-diligence by Cambridge, which has one of the worst Beijing dependency problems of any UK university. 'Ng enjoys senior CCP positions and is literally all over the Chinese internet calling for Hongkongers to use their influence abroad. This kind of investment is not benevolent. It will come at a heavy price for Cambridge, where, as we have seen time and again across the UK, academic freedom will suffer.' Mr Ng, whose family is originally from Singapore, was born in Hong Kong and has spent most of his career working for his family's Hong Kong real estate businesses as deputy chair of the Sino Group. He has also built deep political ties in the former British colony and mainland China. In 2017, he served as deputy director of Lam's election campaign to become Hong Kong's chief executive. Five years later, he also formed part of the three-member campaign finance team for Lee, who replaced Lam as chief executive. During Lam's tenure, Beijing imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong, granting it and the Hong Kong authorities more power to stifle opposition to the two respective governments. Mr Ng has served on municipal people's political consultative committees for Sichuan province and Beijing, which granted him an award in 2020 that is given to 'those who love the motherland, are committed to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and have made outstanding contributions to international cooperation and exchanges'. Such committees form part of China's 'patriotic united front' and have no official legislative role. According to the Taiwanese government, members are 'hand-picked to function as a rubber stamp' of CCP policy. In August last year, the same month he donated to Cambridge, Mr Ng also wrote an article praising the CCP's 'visionary grand design [with] promising implications for Hong Kong' in the South China Morning Post. When his donation was announced by Cambridge, the university made no reference to the sum of money or his political affiliations, citing only his 'passion for real estate' and that the studentship would be named in honour of his grandfather who studied at Cambridge in the 1940s. Mr Ng is just one of several wealthy donors to have given to the university since the clampdown in Hong Kong began. In the past four years, it received £24.45 million from donors in the city, compared with just £13.57 million in the previous four-year period. Cambridge has accepted multiple donations from China particularly under Stephen Toope, its former vice-chancellor. This week, Jesus College announced that its controversial China Forum would close after criticism over opaque funding arrangements and avoiding controversial subjects such as treatment of the minority Uyghurs. A Cambridge university spokesman said: 'The studentship was funded by Mr Ng, a Singaporean citizen, to honour his late Singaporean grandfather who studied at Cambridge in the 1940s. It supports talented students of all nationalities to undertake research. The University has a robust system for reviewing strategic relationships, donations, and sources of funding.' Mr Ng has been contacted for comment via his company. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
BBC News
06-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Would would be the effect of the Conservative migration policy?
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has proposed making it more difficult for new immigrants to be able to permanently settle in the says her party wants to double the time it takes for new migrants to qualify for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) status from five years to 10 addition, the Tories say they would tighten the conditions on people applying for would have to show they have not claimed benefits or used social housing and that their household has been a net contributor to the UK economy, meaning they pay more in tax than they take out in addition, those with a criminal record would be Conservatives say these measures are part of their proposals for "urgent action to control our border".BBC Verify has examined how many immigrants these proposals - if enacted - would likely also looked at whether the plans would be likely to reduce immigration to the UK. What is indefinite leave to remain and how many get it? Most new immigrants come to the UK on visas - such as work visas, family reunification visas or student visas - which come with restrictions on what they can are not generally allowed to access welfare benefits or vote in general also have to pay special taxes such as the immigration health surcharge, which is currently up to £1,035 per an individual attains IRL - also known as settled status - they can access state benefits and use the NHS without extra can also sponsor immigration applications in order to enable an overseas relative, such as a spouse, to come to the people have to have lived at least five years in the UK to apply for the data from the Home Office shows there were around 120,000 grants of settled status in roughly double the numbers awarded the status in 2016 and the data for the first three quarters of 2024 points to a further increase last total numbers, however, are still below 2011, when there were 167,000 ILR grants. How many would the benefits restrictions affect? The vast majority of new migrants who come on visas are already ineligible to claim benefits or apply for social housing under a visa condition called "No Recourse To Public Funds" (NRPF).The Home Office does not record the exact number of people who hold visas with this condition but it estimated that it applied to about 3.3 million people at the end of there are some who had their permission granted to stay in the UK on the basis of family or private life, or who hold British National Overseas visas (which applies to post-2021 immigrants from Hong Kong) can apply to have the restriction can only happen if the applicant can prove it is necessary for reasons of financial hardship or child were 3,759 applications to lift the NRPF condition for destitution reasons in the year ending December 2024, according to the latest Home Office were 2,217 decisions made in the same period, and of those just over half (1,246) were individuals could, in theory, ultimately be denied ILR under the Conservatives' seekers also do not have recourse to public funds, but they do have access to state-provided accommodation and limited financial support. Asylum seekers are currently not normally permitted to work while their claim is being processed. How many would the 'net contribution' restrictions affect? The shadow home secretary Chris Philp clarified on Thursday how the Conservative policy on ILR applicants needing to show a net contribution to the UK economy would told the BBC: "There will be a salary level that we say above that salary level you are likely to be making a net contribution. For people with dependants that salary level will be a bit higher."He did not specify what the salary level would be or how much higher it would be for people with Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that around half of UK individuals are in households that are net contributors, meaning they pay more in direct and indirect taxes than they receive in cash benefits and benefits in kind, such as school for their does not provide a breakdown showing the proportion of pre-settlement immigrants with this status. However, it's possible that the share of recent immigrant households in this category will be higher, given that most are unable to claim fact that retired households are more likely to be net recipients according to the ONS, while immigrant households are more likely to be of working age, is another reason a higher share of immigrant households might be net contributors than the national recent years, the employment rate of working-age migrant men (82%) was higher than that of the UK-born (78%).It's possible a household net contributor requirement could affect larger numbers of people on family visas (as opposed to work visas) meaning they might not qualify for failing to get ILR doesn't necessarily mean these individuals would be required to leave the UK. Some could stay with "limited leave to remain" but without settled status. How many would the crime restrictions affect? There are no official crime figures that are broken down by the immigration status of the perpetrators or alleged we do know about the number of foreign nationals held in were 10,355 foreign offenders held in custody at the end of last year, making up 12% of the total prison population in England and there are already criminal background checks on people applying for IRL, so the Conservative proposals to disqualify those immigrants who have committed crimes should not, in practice, make a difference. Would all this reduce immigration? Net migration into the UK - immigration minus emigration - hit a record 906,000 in the year to June 2023 and was an estimated 728,000 the following year, according to the possible that some people might be deterred, in future, from coming to the UK in the first place if it were harder for them to get ILR, but many migration experts are sceptical that making it harder to claim settled status would have a major impact on these point out that a majority of people coming into the UK on visas in recent decades did not ultimately claim ILR in any 2004 and 2012, less than a third had applied for and received ILR. "I wouldn't anticipate a large impact on net migration, though there could be some effect at the margins," says Madeleine Sumption of the Migration the Conservatives have also, separately, pledged to impose a "strict numerical cap" on immigration if they returned to reporting by Chris Jeavans, Phil Leake and Yaya Egwaikhide What do you want BBC Verify to investigate?
