Latest news with #UKvisas
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Charities warn against making family reunion ‘more difficult'
The number of people offered family reunion visas to the UK rose by almost three quarters in a year, but charities have warned against proposals they say will make it more difficult for loved ones to reunite safely. Some 20,592 people were offered a Refugee Family Reunion grant to the UK in the year to March, up 72% from 11,971 the previous year. The Home Office, which published the latest data on Thursday, said the rise might be explained by a 'notable increase' in the number of people granted refugee status in late 2023, many of whom were then eligible to bring family members to the UK on Refugee Family Reunion visas. But plans announced earlier this month to change the rules on family migration have prompted warnings from charities over the potential consequences of making it harder for loved ones to reunite legally. The Government proposals include tightening rules on the family routes 'to ensure people are of the good character we expect', requirements around English language proficiency for adult family dependants and changing the interpretation of human rights laws to reduce the number of people claiming 'exceptional circumstances' in relation to the right to family life in order to remain in the UK. Safe Passage International claimed people, including children, are continuing to make the dangerous Channel crossing as a 'direct result of the lack of safe routes' and accused Labour of 'attacking family reunion' with their proposed changes. Figures published on Thursday show that in the year to March there were 4,667 people arriving by boat across the Channel who were aged 17 and under. The data came a day after it was confirmed a woman and a child died on an attempted Channel crossing to the UK this week. Gunes Kalkan, head of campaigns at Safe Passage, said family reunion rules are 'already limited' and the latest plans will make refugee family reunion 'even harder'. He said: 'This week, people have continued to lose their lives in the Channel, with children being taken to hospital with hypothermia after suffering in freezing water. 'No one should have to risk their lives to ask for protection here. This is a direct result of the lack of safe routes that would save lives and prevent children, women and men falling into the hands of smugglers. 'We know from our work with unaccompanied children and refugee families that many are trying to reach what little family they have left who are in the UK. 'But the family reunion rules are already limited, and last week the Government announced plans to make refugee family reunion even harder. This risks children being at even greater risk of taking dangerous journeys if the only safe route available to them is restricted even further. 'Instead of attacking family reunion, we need the Government to open safe routes, with the introduction of a refugee visa and expansion of the family reunion pathway.' Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, also warned of the risks people might take as they 'desperately seek to reunite with their loved ones' if legal routes are not possible. He said: 'The only way to cut Channel crossings is to undermine the business model of the smugglers, which necessarily includes creating more safe and legal routes for people to apply for asylum in Britain. 'We are therefore concerned that the Government intends to make it more difficult for families torn apart by war and persecution to reunite safely and legally. 'Making family reunion more difficult will mean vulnerable men, women, and children risk perilous journeys across the Channel as they desperately seek to reunite with their loved ones.' The top five nationalities issued Refugee Family Reunion grants in the year to March were Syrian, Iranian, Afghan, Eritrean and Sudanese. Grants to people from Syria rose by almost half to 4,701 from 3,201. Those issued to family members of refugees from Iran and Afghanistan both more than doubled – to 3,949 and 2,171 respectively, up from 1,420 and 866. Other data showed the overall number of people offered safe and legal routes to the UK was down by just over a quarter in a year, driven partly by a fall in those coming on the Ukraine visa schemes. A total of 69,885 people were offered humanitarian routes in the year to March, down 26% from 94,250 in the previous 12 months. The number under the Ukraine schemes, set up to allow people to come to the UK for safety following Russia's invasion in 2022, decreased by more than half from 40,218 in the year to March 2024 to 19,394 for the most recent 12-month period. There was also a drop of 38% in those coming on Hong Kong visas, from 35,472 in the year ending March 2024 to 22,163 in the 12 months to March. People offered legal routes to the UK under the Afghan resettlement schemes – launched in the wake of the Taliban takeover in 2021 – rose by 16% from 6,000 to 6,936.
Washington Post
22-05-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Fewer study and work visas lead to halving in net migration in the UK in 2024
LONDON — Fewer work and study visas contributed to a near-halving in net migration into the U.K. — the number of people moving to the U.K. minus the number of those moving abroad — in 2024, official figures showed Thursday. The Office for National Statistics said the figure stood at an estimated 431,000 in the year, down 49.9% from 860,000 a year earlier. That's the biggest percentage decline since the height of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and the largest numerical drop for any 12-month period.
Telegraph
22-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Net migration halves after Tory visa crackdown
Net migration halved last year after a Tory crackdown on overseas worker and student visas, official figures show. The number of people coming to live in the UK minus the number emigrating fell from 860,000 in the year ending 2023 to 431,000 in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The near 50 per cent fall followed restrictions introduced at the start of 2024 by the Conservatives to bar foreign workers and students from bringing their dependents and higher salary thresholds for migrants seeking skilled jobs in the UK. The latest decrease is the largest numerical drop for any 12-month period and the ONS said the decline has been driven by falling numbers of people coming to work and study in the UK. The 431,000 – equivalent to a city the size of Bristol – is, however, still 200,000 more than the pre-Brexit years when it fluctuated between 200,000 to 250,000. Sir Keir Starmer unveiled plans this month to reduce net migration further including requiring foreign skilled workers to be graduates, a ban on recruiting care workers from overseas and higher English language requirements for migrants. The prime minister warned Britain risks becoming an 'island of strangers' without better integration and that he wanted net migration to have fallen 'significantly' by the next general election but he refused to set a cap or a target. Sir Keir was also accused of undermining the immigration crackdown with his EU re-set agreement this week, under which thousands of young Europeans are set to come to the UK to live and work under a youth mobility scheme. Chris Philp, shadow home secretary, said: 'This huge drop in net migration – dropping by 430,000, or halving – is a big step in the right direction. This is thanks to measures put in place by the last Conservative government. 'But the numbers are still far too high and need to go down a lot further. That is why we need a binding annual immigration cap, set by Parliament – at much, much lower levels.' The 429,000 fall in net migration is the biggest calendar-year drop since the early stages of the pandemic. While it stood at 184,000 in the year ending December 2019, it decreased to 93,000 in the year ending December 2020 after a year of lockdowns and travel restrictions. The latest figures show that long-term immigration fell below one million for the first time in three years, dropping from 1,326,000 in 2023 to 948,000 in the year ending December 2024. Emigration rose by around 11 per cent to an estimated 517,000 for the year to December, up from 466,000 in the previous year, largely driven by students who came to the UK after the pandemic leaving the country. The fall in immigration was driven by a sharp drop in non-EU nationals coming to the UK for work, which fell by 108,000 or 49 per cent in the year ending December 2024. People coming on student visas declined by 17 per cent in the same period. There were larger falls in dependents coming to the UK, with study dependents down by 86 per cent, amounting to 105,000 people and work dependents dropping by 35 per cent, representing 81,000 people. Meanwhile, emigration levels were similar for non-EU nationals and EU nationals. Non-EU nationals accounted for 43 per cent, or 222,000 of those leaving the UK, while EU nationals made up 42 per cent of people moving from the country, accounting for 218,000 people. Some 77,000 British nationals emigrated, making up the other 15 per cent. Mary Gregory, Director of population statistics at the ONS, said: 'Our provisional estimates show net migration has almost halved compared with the previous year, driven by falling numbers of people coming to work and study, particularly student dependants. This follows policy changes brought in restricting visa applications. 'There has also been an increase in emigration over the 12 months to December 2024, especially people leaving who originally came on study visas once pandemic travel restrictions to the UK were eased.'
BBC News
22-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Drop in work visas and students halved net migration, ONS figures show
Net migration fell by almost 50% in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).New estimates showed 431,000 more people arrived in the UK than left over the 12-month period, compared to 860,000 a year earlier - the largest numerical drop on decrease was driven by declining numbers of people coming to work and study in the UK, and large numbers of people who arrived on study visas after Covid-19 pandemic restrictions eased was also a large drop in the number of dependents accompanying people arriving in the UK on work and study visas, the ONS said. The previous biggest calendar year fall was during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, when net migration dropped from 184,000 in the year ending December 2019 to 93,000 in December large falls announced on Thursday were the result of restrictions on visas introduced by the outgoing Conservative government and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. There was a large drop in the number of students bringing family members to the UK - a key objective of the changes introduced by James Cleverly, the last Tory home the same time, the end of global travel restrictions caused by the pandemic meant people who delayed their intention to move away finally went through with their group included people who came to the UK to study and have now data released on Thursday by the Home Office showed the number of asylum seekers being housed in hotels has fallen - but is still higher than when Labour came to power last Office statistics showed there were 32,345 asylum seekers living in taxpayer-funded hotels in March 2025, down from 38,079 in December figure is far lower than the record of 58,636 under the last Conservative government in June it represents a 9% increase since Labour came to power – the number of asylum seekers in hotels was 29,585 in June 2024.
News24
15-05-2025
- Business
- News24
UK visa change deals blow to African care workers
• For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page. Zimbabwean workers looking to migrate to the UK by obtaining care work are in a bind after Prime Minister Keir Starmer's administration announced plans to permanently scrap visas for that category of employees. The UK government took the decision to permanently scrap the care visa due to the 'abuse and exploitation' which has been taking place, it said in a post on its official X account on May 12. Starmer has also been under pressure to reduce migration to the UK due to the growing popularity of right-wing, anti-migrant challenger parties such as Nigel Farage's Reform UK. The permits offered Zimbabwean professionals an escape from the nation's never-ending crises. The southern African nation has one of the world's most informal economies, according to the World Bank, and experiences frequent bouts of currency volatility and high inflation. Last year, it scrapped the Zimbabwean dollar and replaced it with the ZiG, short for Zimbabwe Gold, after it crashed multiple times. The bullion-backed currency, the nation's sixth attempt at establishing a functioning unit since 2009, is also faltering. The central bank devalued it by 43% in September to close the gap between the official and parallel-market exchange rates. India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe have been the three biggest sources of care workers migrating to the UK since it began offering them such visas. UK Home Office figures show that 15 709 care-worker visas were issued to Zimbabweans and 19 449 to Nigerian nationals last year, including main applicants and their dependents. A brain drain to the UK had resulted in Zimbabwe hemorrhaging not just talent in health care but also in sectors spanning banking, accounting and information technology services, according to Memory Nguwi, the managing consultant at Industrial Psychology Consultants, a Harare-based human resources firm. 'Most of the people that were leaving their professions to join care work wanted temporary relief in terms of earnings,' Nguwi said by phone on Wednesday. The new developments in the UK 'won't necessarily close the search for greener pastures' and the brain drain will continue, with there likely to be renewed interest in moving to Australia and New Zealand, he said. Zimbabwean authorities have complained that the nurses and doctors leaving to work in the UK, created a huge gap in domestic health services. Most of the nation's hospitals are under-equipped and have no medicines. Power and water supply at the institutions are also erratic, and worker morale is low due to poor working conditions. Earlier this month, a cabinet minister urged Zimbabwe President Emmerson Mnangagwa to intervene on the dire state of the health sector.
