The UK care sector is facing serious recruitment challenges following a significant decline in work visas issued to overseas healthcare professionals, according to newly released Home Office statistics.
Official data shows that the number of Health and Care Worker visas granted to international applicants, including dependants, fell by 77% in the twelve months ending June 2025, dropping to just 20,500, compared with 89,095 the previous year.
Severe Impact on Nursing and Care Worker Recruitment
The reduction has had a particularly strong impact on nursing recruitment, with visa approvals for overseas nurses falling by 80% to just 3,080 over the same period. Care workers in personal service roles were hit even harder, with visa numbers plummeting by 88% to 7,378.
Policy Changes Driving the Decline
The sharp reduction in overseas recruitment follows a series of government policy reforms introduced over the past year. Care providers seeking to hire international staff must now prove they have first attempted to recruit UK-based candidates who require visa sponsorship.
Since April 2025, the minimum salary threshold for Skilled Worker visas has increased from £23,200 to £25,000 annually (equivalent to £12.82 per hour), in line with the national minimum wage rise.
Additionally, new government proposals will extend the residency requirement for sponsored care workers from five to ten years before they can apply for indefinite leave to remain.
Government and Expert Reactions
The government has attributed the decline in nursing visas to “the conclusion of the centrally supported international nurse recruitment programme and shifting demand for overseas staff.”
Nuni Jorgensen, from the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, suggested that an increase in people smuggling and a rise in asylum claims from individuals entering on other visas may also be contributing factors.
She added:
“It is difficult to determine the extent to which the repeal of the previous government’s asylum policies has influenced these numbers, particularly as those policies were never fully implemented and their overall impact remains unclear.”
