Friday 22 August 2025

The Home Office published the latest immigration statistics yesterday, covering the year ending June 2025. The data shows marked declines in work, study and family routes alongside record numbers of asylum claims.

Work routes

Across all work categories, 182,553 grants were issued to main applicants, a 36% fall from the previous year.

Grants under the Health and Care Worker route decreased by 77%, driven by caring personal service roles (–88%) and nursing professionals (–80%). Other Worker routes, including Skilled Worker, fell by 38%. Grants to IT professionals declined by 3,084 (–23%) to 10,231, reflecting reduced demand and market saturation.

Temporary Worker grants have remained stable over the past three years. Seasonal work comprised almost half of all grants (38,039), an 11% rise. Extensions of stay in work routes increased by 23% compared with the previous year.

Student routes

Under sponsored study routes, 431,725 grants of leave were issued, 18% fewer than the 526,494 granted the previous year. The fall is mainly due to fewer dependants. The number of dependant grants fell sharply to 17,804, an 81% decrease.

By nationality, applicants from China (99,919) and India (98,014) each accounted for 24% of main applicant grants, followed by Pakistan with 37,013 (9%).

Family routes

A total of 76,327 applications were made under the family routes; a 23% fall compared with the previous year. The decline was driven by a 33% reduction in partner applications, following the April 2024 increase in the Minimum Income Requirement from £18,600 to £29,000.

Asylum

During this period, 111,084 people claimed asylum, the highest figure since records began in 1979 and a 14% rise compared with the previous year. The figure is almost double (+90%) that of 2021.

In total, 51,997 people were granted asylum, 24% fewer than the previous year. Grant rates dropped sharply: for Afghan nationals from 96% to 40%, and for Turkish nationals from 51% to 19%.

Irregular arrivals reached 49,341, an increase of 27%, with 88% arriving by small boat. The top five claimant nationalities (Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, Eritrea and Bangladesh) accounted for 37% of claims.

Humanitarian protection

There were 61,832 grants under humanitarian routes, 33% fewer than the previous year. This reduction is broadly attributed to a decrease in grants under the Ukraine Schemes.

Settlement

In total, 163,353 people were granted settlement, an 18% increase. This figure included 39,946 grants linked to refugee or humanitarian leave (+17%), 45,170 family route grants (+17%) and 59,766 work-related grants (+19%).

Citizenship

British citizenship was granted to 256,864 people, a 4% increase from the previous year. The top three nationalities were India, Pakistan and Nigeria. Among EU nationals, Italians were the largest group, with 10,772 grants.

Key trends

The statistics underline a sharp contraction in short-term migration routes. Work and study routes fell significantly, particularly within the health and care sector. Student route grants were also notably lower, with the steep fall in dependants marking a significant shift from previous years.

At the same time, pressure on the asylum system continues to grow. The number of claims reached record levels, nearly double the number of applicants compared to 2021. Yet the proportion of successful outcomes fell substantially for certain nationalities.

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