Care Sector Faces Deepening Workforce Challenge As Visa Numbers Plummet
The number of overseas workers arriving in Britain on health and social care visas has declined dramatically over the past two years government data reveals.
Official statistics released by the Home Office reveal that only 13,286 health and care worker visas were granted to main applicants throughout 2025 — a fall of more than half compared with 27,047 the previous year, and a staggering 91 per cent below the 145,823 granted just two years earlier in 2023.
The collapse in numbers extends to family members accompanying workers. Dependant visas connected to health and care roles stood at 35,444 last year, representing a 58 per cent reduction year-on-year and a drop of more than four-fifths from the 202,334 recorded in 2023.
Of particular concern to care home operators is the sharp contraction in nursing professionals arriving from abroad. The figures show that visas issued to nursing professionals fell to just 1,777 in 2025, down 73 per cent from 6,494 the year before, and nearly 93 per cent below the 26,141 granted in 2022.
The Home Office attributed part of this decline to the conclusion of a centrally managed international nurse recruitment scheme, alongside reduced demand for overseas staff. However, sector observers are warning that the timing could hardly be worse, given that an estimated 25,000 nursing posts remain unfilled across the NHS and wider care sector.
The dramatic reduction in overseas recruitment reflects an accumulation of policy changes introduced by successive governments. The previous Conservative administration began tightening the rules in early 2024, initially restricting the ability of overseas students to bring family members to the UK before extending similar restrictions to care workers from March of that year. Salary thresholds for skilled worker visas were also raised from April 2024.
The current Labour government has continued and accelerated this trajectory. In July 2025, ministers brought in further reforms — most notably ending overseas recruitment for care workers altogether, and again raising the salary bar required for skilled worker visa applications. Skill level requirements were also increased, rendering more than 100 occupational categories ineligible for the skilled worker route.
Across all work-related visa categories, 261,112 entry visas were issued in 2025 — a reduction of 29 per cent on the prior year’s figure of 368,139, and less than half the total recorded in 2023 (613,627).
Skilled worker visas issued to main applicants fell 44 per cent to 32,511 last year, compared with 57,858 in 2024 and 65,426 in 2023. Dependants covered under these visas also decreased, from 57,154 in 2024 to 40,741 in 2025.
Campaigners and workforce experts are urging ministers to reassess the human consequences of the current approach. Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the Work Rights Centre, argued that the impact on public services deserves serious scrutiny.
Speaking in response to the data, she said the steep reduction in skilled migrant professionals coming to work in UK hospitals, research institutions and schools raised serious questions about the true cost of a policy focused narrowly on reducing migration numbers. She stressed that no hospital could welcome such a dramatic fall in overseas nurses at a time when tens of thousands of nursing vacancies remained unfilled, and that the burden would inevitably fall on existing staff already working under significant pressure.
Dr Vicol also raised concerns about the conditions facing those overseas workers who do still qualify to come to Britain, warning they face higher costs, longer pathways to settlement, and a heightened risk of labour exploitation when tied to a single employer through their visa conditions.
She called on the Government to look beyond headline migration figures and to design an immigration framework genuinely responsive to the needs of workers, patients and public services.
