LONDON, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The number of work visas issued by Britain in the year to December 2025 fell by 19% from the previous year, government data showed on Thursday, reflecting the ongoing impact of tighter visa rules.
Successive governments have sought to introduce tighter controls on visas to limit legal migration, and to take action to stop immigrants arriving illegally by small boats and deport those who do make it to the country by such means.
The Labour government is trailing Nigel Farage’s populist Reform UK party, which campaigns on an anti-migration platform, in opinion polls, placing Prime Minister Keir Starmer under intense pressure to show he has the issue under control.
– The data released on Thursday showed 168,000 work visas were issued in 2025, down 19% on 2024 and 50% on 2023.
– The fall included a halving of the number of visas issued in the health and care sector and a 36% decline in the number of other skilled worker visas.
– That continues a trend seen in data released by the Office for National Statistics last year, which showed long-term net migration to Britain fell by more than two-thirds in the year to June.
– There were 46,497 detected arrivals via illegal routes, up 7%. Of these arrivals, 89% were in small boats.
– 100,625 people claimed asylum in the period, 4% fewer than the previous year.
– The number of forced removals from Britain rose 21% to 9,900.
(Reporting by William James; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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