In the year ending September 2023, 486,107 sponsored study visas were granted to main applicants, an increase of just two per cent on the year ending September 2022 and below the record for a 12-month period set in June 2023 of 498,626 visas granted.
Nevertheless, the September 2023 total was 86 per cent higher than the year ending September 2019, the Home Office said.
India remained the largest source country for UK study visas, with 133,327 visas granted to principal applicants, a five per cent increase on September 2022 and almost five times higher than September 2019. India accounted for more than a quarter (27 per cent) of all study visas granted in the latest data.
China remained in second place with 108,978 visas granted, down seven per cent from September 2022, while Nigeria was third with 51,071 sponsored study visas, a similar number to last year but almost eight times higher than in September 2019. The top five was completed by Pakistan, which saw the largest year-on-year increase at 33 per cent, and the US.
The reintroduction of post-study work rights in the UK via the Graduate Route, which officially launches in July 2021, has been credited with some of the growth, particularly from certain markets such as India.
In the year to September 2023, there were 104,501 Graduate Route extensions granted to former international students, with Indian students accounting for 43 per cent of these.
However, the imminent removal of the right for international Master’s students to bring dependents is likely to affect demand from some of the recent growth markets.
In the year to September 2023, 152,980 visas were granted to dependents of international students – a significant increase from just 14,839 in the year to September 2019.
Nigeria (60,506 dependents) and India (43,445 dependents) together accounted for more than two-thirds of all visas granted to student dependents.
In a recent survey of members by the Chartered Association of Business Schools, 93 per cent of respondents believed that the ban on visas for dependents of masters students – due to be implemented from February 2024 – would have a negative impact on their international postgraduate recruitment.
The Home Office said that 497,797 Confirmation of Acceptance of Studies (CAS) were issued in the year to September 2023, and 91 per cent of these were for higher education institutions.
According to Home Office statistics, the overall grant rate for student and dependent applications was 97 per cent. Of the top 20 countries, only Ghana (85 per cent) had a grant rate of less than nine out of ten.
