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In the year to June 2026, the Home Office granted 288,665 Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker visas to main applicants. Of those, 34,122 went to people applying from outside the UK, 42% fewer than in the year to June 2025. The other 254,543 grants, up 8.5%, were to people already in the UK who switched from another visa or extended their stay.
The Home Office publishes Health and Care Worker visas separately from other Skilled Worker visas, so the figures here show both. Every figure counts main applicants, not their dependants, in the quarter the visa was granted.
Terms used here: Skilled Worker visa, Health and Care Worker visa and Certificate of Sponsorship.
141,301 in all, 19 in 100 from abroad.
147,364 in all, 5 in 100 from abroad.
One quarter's grants on both routes. 88% fewer than in the busiest quarter.
Grants to people who switched or extended, on both routes. Up 8.5%.
Each dot is 1 grant in 100. Main applicants, year to June 2026 unless stated. Home Office figures, provisional from January 2026.
Each point is one quarter's grants to main applicants, from 2021 Q1 to 2026 Q2. Grants to people applying from outside the UK, for both routes together, peaked at 62,877 in 2023 Q3 and were 7,279 in 2026 Q2. From 2023 Q4 onwards, more were granted inside the UK than outside it in every quarter. The inside line starts in 2023 Q1, because until 2022 the Home Office published one figure for both routes inside the UK.
| Quarter | Outside the UK | Inside the UK |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 Q1 | 4,553 | n/a |
| 2021 Q2 | 6,682 | n/a |
| 2021 Q3 | 11,762 | n/a |
| 2021 Q4 | 12,602 | n/a |
| 2022 Q1 | 12,665 | n/a |
| 2022 Q2 | 14,782 | n/a |
| 2022 Q3 | 21,035 | n/a |
| 2022 Q4 | 17,637 | n/a |
| 2023 Q1 | 15,746 | 16,610 |
| 2023 Q2 | 14,896 | 14,227 |
| 2023 Q3 | 17,806 | 21,618 |
| 2023 Q4 | 16,978 | 25,051 |
| 2024 Q1 | 17,609 | 25,997 |
| 2024 Q2 | 19,129 | 25,712 |
| 2024 Q3 | 12,092 | 23,919 |
| 2024 Q4 | 9,028 | 27,671 |
| 2025 Q1 | 8,575 | 26,401 |
| 2025 Q2 | 8,716 | 27,727 |
| 2025 Q3 | 9,064 | 29,369 |
| 2025 Q4 | 6,055 | 33,760 |
| 2026 Q1 | 5,821 | 26,770 |
| 2026 Q2 | 5,954 | 24,508 |
| Quarter | Outside the UK | Inside the UK |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 Q1 | 6,771 | n/a |
| 2021 Q2 | 5,815 | n/a |
| 2021 Q3 | 8,684 | n/a |
| 2021 Q4 | 10,530 | n/a |
| 2022 Q1 | 12,387 | n/a |
| 2022 Q2 | 15,593 | n/a |
| 2022 Q3 | 22,764 | n/a |
| 2022 Q4 | 25,980 | n/a |
| 2023 Q1 | 36,910 | 22,368 |
| 2023 Q2 | 35,470 | 21,162 |
| 2023 Q3 | 45,071 | 22,779 |
| 2023 Q4 | 28,372 | 29,577 |
| 2024 Q1 | 9,056 | 30,782 |
| 2024 Q2 | 6,510 | 26,558 |
| 2024 Q3 | 6,541 | 29,974 |
| 2024 Q4 | 4,940 | 32,064 |
| 2025 Q1 | 4,468 | 33,899 |
| 2025 Q2 | 4,522 | 32,847 |
| 2025 Q3 | 2,612 | 34,519 |
| 2025 Q4 | 1,591 | 36,776 |
| 2026 Q1 | 1,700 | 34,163 |
| 2026 Q2 | 1,325 | 34,678 |
Each row is a year of grants to main applicants. Inside the UK the Home Office published one figure for both routes until 2022, so those years show n/a and have no total.
| Skilled Worker | Health and Care Worker | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Outside the UK | Inside the UK | Outside the UK | Inside the UK | Total |
| 2021 | 35,599 | n/a | 31,800 | n/a | n/a |
| 2022 | 66,119 | n/a | 76,724 | n/a | n/a |
| 2023 | 65,426 | 77,506 | 145,823 | 95,886 | 384,641 |
| 2024 | 57,858 | 103,299 | 27,047 | 119,378 | 307,582 |
| 2025 | 32,410 | 117,257 | 13,193 | 138,041 | 300,901 |
| Year to June 2026 | 26,894 | 114,407 | 7,228 | 140,136 | 288,665 |
Scroll the table sideways to see every column.
In the year to June 2026, the Home Office granted 33,941 Skilled Worker visas, including Health and Care Worker visas, to people applying from outside the UK. Generalist medical practitioners (SOC 2211) had the most, with 3,126.
These figures count the workers themselves, not their dependants, and only people who applied from outside the UK.
People already in the UK were granted 254,543 Skilled Worker visas in the same year, including Health and Care Worker visas, but the Home Office only publishes that number for all jobs together.
The sponsor chooses the occupation code when it assigns the certificate of sponsorship.
Figures from January 2026 onwards are provisional and may still change.
Source: Home Office immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026, table Occ_D02 (not accredited official statistics).
In 2025, Indian nationals were granted 100,533 Skilled Worker and Health and Care Worker visas, outside and inside the UK, more than any other nationality. Nigerian nationals came next, with 42,688.
| # | Nationality | Visas |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 100,533 |
| 2 | Nigeria | 42,688 |
| 3 | Pakistan | 18,777 |
| 4 | Zimbabwe | 14,359 |
| 5 | Philippines | 13,681 |
| 6 | Ghana | 8,699 |
| 7 | United States | 7,304 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 6,884 |
| 9 | China | 6,375 |
| 10 | Sri Lanka | 5,799 |
These count main applicants on both routes, outside and inside the UK.
20%of Skilled Worker decisions on applications made from outside the UK were refusals in 2025. Inside the UK it was 2.1%.
How often Skilled Worker visas are refused98.3%of straightforward sponsored work applications made from outside the UK were decided on time in January to March 2026, on the standard service. Inside the UK it was 94.1%. The Home Office calls both provisional.
How long UK visa decisions take20%of international students who arrived in 2020 held a Skilled Worker visa five years later.
What happens after a UK student visaA count of grants describes the applications people made, with the employers and jobs behind them. It says nothing about any one application, and nothing here means a sponsor, a job or a nationality makes a visa more or less likely.
A grant inside the UK is a decision on someone who already holds a UK visa: some switched from another visa and some extended the one they already had. The Home Office says that individuals may be granted more than one extension over the period covered, so the figure counts grants, not people.
The Home Office says that an outcome in a given quarter may relate to an application raised in a previous quarter.
The Home Office may revise figures from 2026 Q1 onwards. In 2026 Q2 it found a small number of test records in its extensions data, under 1% of cases since about 2022, and says they are unlikely to have changed the published figures much. It also says the extensions figures may change in future quarters while its casework systems change. Its next release is due on 26 November 2026.
Source: Home Office, Immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026, published 27 August 2026: table Vis_D02, entry clearance visa outcomes, for applications made from outside the UK, and table Exe_D01, extensions of stay, for grants inside the UK. The entry clearance file calls a grant "Issued"; this page says granted for both files. Next release: 26 November 2026.
The figures at the top, the charts and the year table use the national rows for main applicants. The year to June 2026 is the sum of its four quarters.
The occupation code table is table Occ_D02, sponsored work visas by occupation and industry, which covers applications made from outside the UK. It is compiled separately from Vis_D02, so its total for the year can differ slightly from the figures at the top. The nationality table uses each country's own rows from Vis_D02 and Exe_D01, as the nationality pages do. Added together, the countries come to slightly fewer grants than the national rows.
The refusal share, the on-time share and the figure for former students come from the pages they link to, which name their own sources and release dates.
Data tables: Immigration system statistics data tables on GOV.UK.
In 2025, the Home Office granted 32,410 Skilled Worker visas to main applicants applying from outside the UK and 117,257 to people inside the UK who switched or extended. Health and Care Worker visas added 13,193 and 138,041, which makes 300,901 in all.
For people applying from outside the UK, yes. Grants on the two routes went from 58,882 in the year to June 2025 to 34,122 in the year to June 2026. Inside the UK they went up from 234,502 to 254,543.
A grant outside the UK is a visa for someone who applied from abroad. A grant inside the UK is for someone already in the UK on a visa: they switched to the route from another visa, or extended the one they had. In the year to June 2026, 88% of grants were made inside the UK.
The Home Office publishes them as a category of their own, for eligible health and care jobs. This page shows them next to other Skilled Worker visas, and the totals add the two together.
No. Every figure on this page counts main applicants. The Home Office publishes dependants in the same files, and they aren't shown here.
From the Home Office's immigration system statistics, year ending June 2026: entry clearance visa outcomes (Vis_D02) for applications made from outside the UK, and extensions of stay (Exe_D01) for grants inside it. They're published every three months. The next release is due on 26 November 2026.