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2mo ago

UK Loses Track of 150,000 Social Care Visa Holders

Home Office data systems cannot link visa status to employment or residence, raising questions about the fate of more than 150,000 care workers

Keir Starmer, UK prime minister, during a meeting with Narendra Modi, India's prime minister, at Chequers near Aylesbury, UK, on Thursday, July 24, 2025. The UK and India plan to sign their long-awaited free trade agreement on Thursday, in a move which the British government said would add £4.8 billion ($6.5 billion) to the size of its economy. Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Overview

  • Ministers admitted they have no record of how many health and care visa holders remain in Britain or continue to work in the social care sector
  • The department lacks a system to directly connect visa records with ongoing employment or residence, a gap inherited from earlier data infrastructure
  • Since February 2022 the scheme issued 154,402 visas, peaking at 107,772 in 2023 before falling to 9,539 in 2024 after a family-member ban
  • Labour closed the health and care visa route to new applicants this year while allowing existing workers to extend their stay under White Paper reforms
  • Opposition figures have called on Parliament to set a binding annual cap on social care visas as wider immigration rules are overhauled