UK visa: Sharp spike in Indian student visas, record work visas. Does that improve your chances?
student visa category. The UK Home Office data reveals a 54% spike in the issuance of sponsored study visas to Indians, reaching a total of 142,848 visas granted.
This surge is a substantial increase of 49,883 visas in comparison to the year ending June 2022, an Economic Times report Impressively, this figure stands sevenfold higher than the corresponding period in 2019. The broader spectrum shows that the UK issued almost 500,000 sponsored study visas in June 2023, marking a 23% rise from the prior year.
Indians accounted for nearly one-third of these visas, while around 154,000 were granted to students' dependents. However, a check on immigration is still a reality given soaring numbers of migrants have become a political headache for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
In 2022, net migration hit a record 606,000. Talking on the trends, Jonathan Portes, professor of economics at King’s College London, told Bloomberg, “The big picture is that the post-Brexit migration system continues to drive two shifts; from EU to non-EU migration; and from sectors which benefited from free movement, to sectors where workers qualify under the new system." “Overall, this means migration is likely to be higher skilled and higher paid; but also less flexible, market-oriented and responsive to demand.
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