Why do people come to the UK? To work
Updated 18 June 2021
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Data relate to the year ending March 2021 and all comparisons are with the year ending March 2020, unless indicated otherwise.
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic. A range of restrictions were implemented in many parts of the world, and the first UK lockdown measures were announced on 23 March 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on the UK immigration system, both in terms of restricting migrant movements to and from the UK and the impact on operational capacity.
Year ending comparisons that follow will include impacts resulting from the restrictions put in place during this period of the pandemic.
This section contains data for foreign nationals applying in new work routes on:
- Work-related visas, including Skilled work visas
- Sponsored work visa applications from different economic sectors
1. Immigration for work
There were 122,512 work-related visas granted in the year ending March 2021 (including dependants), 37% fewer than in the previous year. Skilled work, which accounts for 63% of work-related visas granted, saw the largest fall, down 38,448 or 33%. These falls reflect the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The new work routes introduced in late 2020 (Skilled worker, Skilled worker Health and Care, and Intra-company transfer) accounted for 27,259 or 22% of the total work-related grants.
Figure 1: Number of work-related visas granted, by month, 2019, 2020 and 2021
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02 and underlying data.
Figure 1 shows that there were almost no work visa grants in April and May 2020, following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the following months, grants started to recover but remained lower than the previous year until March 2021, where the number of work visas granted was higher than both March 2020 and also March 2019.
Grants of Temporary worker visas decreased by 18,456 (down 43%) in the year following the onset of the pandemic, with large falls in Youth mobility visa grants, down 12,752 (65%). Other work visas also decreased, with a fall of 16,111 (78%) grants for Domestic workers in private households. However, there were substantial increases in the number of grants on the ‘Tier 5 – Seasonal Workers’ route, which increased from 2,861 to 10,659 following quota increases for 2020.
The number of grants on the European Communities Association Agreement (ECAA) businessperson route saw an increase of almost a third (31%) up 1,214 to 5,139, and the number of applications was more than five times the number in the previous year. This surge in applications, and resulting grants, is likely due to people seeking to apply before the route closed to new applicants at the end of 2020.
Table 1: Work-related visas granted, by visa type
| Visa type | Year ending March 2020 | Year ending March 2021 | Change | Percentage change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skilled worker | 115,086 | 76,638 | -38,448 | -33% |
| Temporary worker | 43,035 | 24,579 | -18,456 | -43% |
| Other work visas and exemptions1 | 30,184 | 17,557 | -12,627 | -42% |
| High value | 5,472 | 3,738 | -1,734 | -32% |
| Total | 193,777 | 122,512 | -71,265 | -37% |
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02
Notes:
- The ‘Other work visas and exemptions’ category includes new routes other than Skilled work and older routes such as European Community Association Agreement (ECAA) businessperson, domestic workers in private households, UK Ancestry visas and pre-PBS routes that are now closed.
Figure 2: Work-related visas granted by visa type, years ending March 2012 to March 2021
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02.
Figure 2 shows that there were falls in the number of grants for each work-related visa type in the last year, following the onset of the global pandemic. Skilled work visas had been steadily increasing until March 2020, after which all work-visas showed a COVID-related decline.
According to Labour Force Survey estimates from October to December 2020 (the latest data with nationality region breakdowns) published in the ONS Labour market overview, UK: February 2021 release, there were 1.26 million non-EU nationals working in the UK, 84,000 less than a year earlier. Between early 2009 and December 2020, the number of non-UK nationals from outside the EU working in the UK has stayed broadly consistent, at around 1.20 million, with slight fluctuations year on year. There were an estimated 29.35 million UK nationals working in the UK, 22,000 more than a year earlier.
At the same time, there were 1.83 million EU nationals working in the UK, 478,000 fewer than a year earlier. This number fell throughout 2020 following a period of broad stability starting in the latter half of 2016 at around 2.30 million.
1.1 Skilled Work
‘Skilled work’ includes Tier 2 routes from the Old Points Based system and the new Skilled Worker and Intra-company visas, which replaced the Tier 2 General and Intra-company transfer routes during 2020.
In the year ending March 2021, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a 33% fall in the Skilled work visas granted (to 76,638).
The majority of the fall was accounted for by a decrease in grants of Intra-company transfer visas, which fell by 72% to 13,691 in the year ending March 2021. While much of this decline is as a result of COVID-19, it follows a fall over the last few quarters before the pandemic for this visa route.
There were 14,016 grants of the new ‘Skilled worker – Health and Care workers’ visa, making up 18% of the Skilled work-related visas. Indian nationals account for more than two fifths (41%) of all Skilled work visas granted, although the number of Indian nationals granted was 45% lower, at 31,671 in the year ending March 2021. There was an increase in skilled work visa grants to Nigerian nationals, whose number increased by 1,263 or 28%.
Table 2: Top 5 nationalities1 granted Skilled Work visas
| Nationality | Year ending March 2020 | Year ending March 2021 | Change | Percentage change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| India | 58,017 | 31,671 | -26,346 | -45% |
| Philippines | 7,048 | 6,261 | -787 | -11% |
| Nigeria | 4,307 | 5,570 | +1,263 | +29% |
| United States | 8,705 | 4,449 | -4,256 | -49% |
| Egypt | 2,720 | 2,762 | +42 | +2% |
| Other nationalities2 | 34,289 | 25,925 | -8,364 | -24% |
| Total | 115,086 | 76,638 | -38,448 | -33% |
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02
Notes:
- Top 5 nationalities in the most recent year.
- ‘Other nationalities’ includes those that do not feature in the top 5 in the latest year.
1.2 Other work-related visas
In the year ending March 2021, there were 3,736 High Value (previously Tier 1) visas granted, 32% (1,736) fewer than the previous year. While much of this decline is as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it also follows falls over the preceding quarters, driven by a decrease in ‘Entrepreneur’ and ‘Investor’ visas, following a change in policy reflecting advice from the Migration Advisory Committee on the Tier 1 (Investor) route Investment thresholds and economic benefits.
‘Seasonal Workers’ were the only former Tier 5 route to see an increase, nearly quadrupling from 2,861 to 10,659. This is in line with quota increases for the seasonal worker visa route, which has now increased from 2,500 in 2019, now sitting at 30,000 available visas. More information can be found on the seasonal workers pilot information page. Of those granted a Seasonal Worker visa in the year ending March 2021, 85% were Ukrainian nationals.
The ‘Youth mobility’ route is second largest of what were previously Tier 5 routes, accounting for 28% (6,968) of the total (24,579). The number of Youth mobility visas in the year ending March 2021 was 65% lower than the previous year. Citizens of eight countries benefit from the Youth mobility scheme, with the three most numerous beneficiaries being nationals of Australia (27%), Canada (20%) and Japan (16% of the total).
1.3 Sponsorship
In the year ending March 2021, applications for work visas using sponsor acceptances (Certificate of Sponsorship; CoS) stood at 41,910. This figure underestimates the actual total due to data quality issues from Q1 2020 (see section 2.4 for details). A complete breakdown of the visas, extensions and unknown cases can be found in the detailed work sponsorship tables. Five sectors accounted for 79% of sponsored Tier 2 work visa applications:
- Human Health and Social Work Activities (28%)
- Information and Communications (18%)
- Education (14%)
- Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities (12%)
- Financial and Insurance Activities (7%)
1.4 The new immigration system (work)
From the 1st of January 2021, changes in the immigration rules mean that EEA and Swiss (excluding Irish) nationals require a visa to work in the UK. In Q1 2021, there were 3,589 work-related visa grants to EEA nationals newly seeking to come to the UK. The majority of these were in the ‘Other work visas and exemptions’ and ‘Skilled worker’ categories, comprising 60% and 30% of the total work grants respectively.
The top EEA nationality granted work visas and permits in Q1 2021 were Polish with 539 grants, making up 15% of the total. French and German nationals were the next highest, comprising 13% and 9% of grants respectively.
The work route with the highest number of EEA grants was the Frontier Worker visa, with 2,085 grants. Polish nationals had the highest number of grants on this route, at 494 grants. This was followed by the Netherlands at 222 grants and Romania at 185 grants.
The second highest was the Skilled Worker visa, with 791 grants. French nationals were the EEA nationality with the highest number of grants on this route, at 209 grants. This was followed by Italy at 122 grants and Spain at 79 grants.
Frontier Worker and Skilled Worker route together made up 80% of all EEA granted work visas.
2. About these statistics
The statistics in this section provide an indication of the number of people who have an intention to enter the UK for work reasons.
Before 2021, due to European Union (EU) freedom of movement principles, the majority of UK immigration rules related to non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals. From 2021, unless otherwise stated, data in this release will include both EEA and non-EEA nationals.
Entry clearance visas allow an individual to enter and stay in the UK within the period for which the visa is valid. From 2021, EEA nationals require a visa to enter the UK to work.
Data in this section refer to the number of Entry clearance visas granted for work reasons within the period. If an individual was granted a visa more than once in a given period, this has been counted as multiple grants in the statistics. If an individual entered the UK multiple times within the period for which a visa was valid, this has been counted as one grant in the visa statistics.
The data do not show whether, or when, an individual arrived in the UK, what they did on arrival to the UK, or how long they stayed in the UK.
Year-on-year comparisons of the number of decisions can be affected by quarterly fluctuations in the data. These fluctuations can be examined in the quarterly data available in the published tables.
2.1 Tier 1 (High value)
Tier 1 of the PBS was phased in between February and June 2008 as a general route. However, from 2010, Tier 1 has focused on providing visas for ‘High value’ migrants only, including the exceptional talent route, investors and entrepreneurs.
The Tier 1 Entrepreneur route was closed to most new applicants in March 2019 and replaced by the non-PBS Innovator route.
The Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur route was closed to new applicants in July 2019 and replaced by the non-PBS Start-up route.
The Tier 1 Exceptional Talent route was closed to new applicants in February 2020 and replaced by the non-PBS Global Talent route.
The remaining Tier 1 routes were closed at the end of 2020.
2.2 Tier 2 (Skilled)
Tier 2 of the PBS was the primary route for economic migration to the UK. Broadly, the route was for skilled workers from outside the EEA who have an offer of employment in the UK in an occupation classed as skilled to NQF6 or above.
Tier 2 was implemented in November 2008. There were four routes within Tier 2: General, Intra-company transfer, Minister of religion and Sportsperson.
Tier 2 was closed at the end of 2020 and replaced by the Skilled Worker and Intra-Company Transfer routes.
2.3 Tier 5 (Youth mobility and temporary workers)
Tier 5 (Youth mobility and temporary workers) was implemented in November 2008 to provide a route for those coming to the UK for primarily non-economic reasons.
The Tier 5 Seasonal workers route was open to new applicants from January 2019.
The Tier 5 routes were closed at the end of 2020 and replace by equivalent Youth Mobility and Temporary Worker routes.
2.4 Certificate of sponsorship (CoS)
From Q4 2019, the method for extracting in-country and out-of-country Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) data has changed. Data quality issues identified as part of this change in methodology has meant that some cases from Q1 2020 onwards are unable to be separately identified as either a visa or extension case, and so have been categorised as ‘unknown’. These are a very small number of cases from Q1 2021.
Applicants for visas (and extensions) for Tier 2 (Skilled) work and for Tier 5 (Youth mobility and temporary worker) must obtain a certificate of sponsorship (CoS) from a registered employer. Any organisation that wishes to sponsor a worker must be registered on the Home Office’s Register of Sponsors.
Tier 2 (General) is currently subject to a cap on the number of CoSs that can be allocated to employers for newly-hired employees earning less than £159,600 per year, or for dependants of Tier 4 Students who wish to switch into the Tier 2 ‘General’ category. The sponsor must apply for an allocation for these ‘restricted’ CoSs on a case-by-case basis to be considered at a monthly allocation meeting held by the Home Office. Details of the outcome of the monthly allocation process are published by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI). On 15 June 2018, the government announced that doctors and nurses are to be excluded from the cap on Skilled worker visas.
Further information about the CoS allocation process is given in the user guide and on the UK visa sponsorship for employers section of GOV.UK.
2.5 Other sources
Until 2020, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published long-term international migration (LTIM) estimates in its ‘Migration Statistics Quarterly Report’ (latest data available is for the year ending March 2020). The ONS are currently reviewing their methods for measuring population and migration; see their blog post for more information on the latest developments to ONS population and migration data.
3. Data tables
Data on immigration for work can be found in the following tables:
- Sponsorship summary tables
- Detailed sponsorship datasets
- Entry clearance visas summary tables
- Detailed Entry clearance visas datasets
- Admissions summary tables
- Extensions summary tables
- Detailed Extensions datasets
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