Former Home Secretary James Cleverly announced the new rules in December last year to restrict foreign workers, as figures showed net migration was running at near record levels.
Those restrictions included new minimum salary tests for both workers and members of their family.
The latest figures also show that some 432,000 visas were granted to foreign students to come to the UK in the year ending June 2024 – a total that was 13% down on the previous year.
In the first six months of 2024, the number of related visas granted to members of a student’s family fell by 81%.
Dr Ben Brindle of the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory, an independent centre that analyses the statistics, said the fall in visas should theoretically lead to a fall in net migration – figures that will be published at a later date.
“We don’t yet know how many of the recent student arrivals will remain in the UK long term, and any bounce-back in health and care visas would also slow the decline,” he said.
“Nonetheless, the strong indication is that Labour will be able to meet its commitment to reduce net migration from the unusually high levels the UK has recently seen – primarily due to trends that were already in train well before they were elected.”
Before the general election earlier this year, Labour pledged to reduce net migration. It has not set a target but said it aimed to reduce the UK’s reliance on foreign labour through workforce and training, particularly in key sectors such as health and construction.
Seema Malhotra, the minister for immigration, accused the previous Tory government of an “utter failure to tackle skills shortages which has left many employers dependent on recruiting from overseas”.
But she vowed to continue some measures brought in by the previous government, including reducing the number of dependants able to join relatives in the UK.
Mr Cleverly said he “took action” as home secretary, which was now leading to net migration coming down.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
