The number of overseas workers and students applying to come to the UK has fallen after curbs on visas introduced by the previous government.
Workers and their family members applying on skilled worker, health and care, and study visas fell by more than a third in July to 91,300 compared with last year.
The decline has been particularly stark in monthly applications for health and care visas, with an 82% fall to 2,900 in July, while the number of people applying to study in the UK has fallen by 15% to 69,500.
The official figures suggest overall immigration figures are likely to tumble significantly.
Net migration hit an all-time high of 764,000 in 2022 and inflows remained higher than historical averages at 685,000 last year.
Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government banned those coming to study in the UK and those on health and care visas from bringing family members and Labour has no plans to change the policy.
The Home Office’s initial figures for July found that about 15% fewer sponsored student visa applications were received last month, continuing the downward trend since the start of the year
It means policies introduced by the previous government could help Keir Starmer, the prime minister, deliver on his promise to reduce “sky-high” levels of net migration.
The University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory has estimated that net migration will continue to drop considerably in the next five years to about 350,000 by 2030, driven in part by more people leaving Britain, declines in the number of overseas students arriving in the UK, and a fall in private sector vacancies.
