Visa applications across key routes have fallen by a quarter in the first 4 months of 2024, as the Home Secretary’s package to reduce unsustainable migration continues to deliver.
Government measures to tighten student visas, which came into force in January, have prevented most international students starting courses this year from bringing family members with 79% fewer student dependent applications in the first 4 months of 2024. Students can also no longer switch their visa before completing their course, preventing people using the route as a backdoor to work in the UK, while clamping down on institutions which undermine the UK’s reputation by selling immigration not education. There were more than 30,000 fewer student visa applications made between January to April 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.
