London, February 26 Indian students and skilled workers, including in the healthcare sector, continue to top the list of visa extensions granted by the UK, according to official migration statistics released by the Home Office in London on Thursday.
Following a recent downward trend, the number of sponsored study visas granted to foreign students increased by 3 per cent in the past year, with 95,231 visas being issued to Indians for the year ending December 2025.
On the work visa front, the highest number of skilled worker extensions were issued to Indians during the same period.
"Indian nationals were the most common nationality being granted sponsored study visas in the year ending December 2025, with 95,231 visas issued to main applicants (23 per cent of the total)," states the Home Office.
"The highest numbers of health and care worker extensions in the year ending December 2025 were issued to Indian (104,555), Nigerian (88,461) and Zimbabwean (28,914) nationals.
"The highest numbers of skilled worker extensions in the year ending December 2025 were issued to Indian (90,031), Pakistani (16,098) and Nigerian (12,485) nationals.
"The highest numbers of graduate extensions in the year ending December 2025 were issued to Indian (90,153), Nigerian (42,220) and Pakistani (30,464) nationals," it notes.
The Graduate Route visa allows eligible international students who have successfully completed a qualifying UK degree to remain in the country for up to two years to work or seek employment, or 18 months for those applying on or after January 1, 2027.
Overall, Graduate Route extension grants decreased by 6 per cent in the latest year as the government's clampdown on family members joining international students as dependents came into effect.
The UK's Work Rights Centre (WRC) charity cautioned against a significant decrease in migrant care workers, nurses, therapists, scientists, education professionals and skilled tradespeople coming to work in the UK.
"The sharp decline in migrant professionals coming to work in UK hospitals, research institutes and schools raises serious questions about the costs of the government's narrow focus on reducing migration," said Dr Dora-Olivia Vicol, chief executive of the charity.
"No hospital is likely to welcome a 93 per cent drop in overseas nurses, at a time when 25,000 nursing vacancies remain unfilled, and no British worker will want the pressure of working a double shift.
"Meanwhile, the migrant workers who can still come to work in the UK face higher costs, longer routes to settlement, and the risk of exploitation by arriving on visas that tie them to employers. Ministers must look at what workers and public services really need, and go beyond the narrow focus on migrant numbers to design an immigration system that works for the people who actually use it," she said.
The latest Home Office statistics also revealed other impacts of some of the government's tougher policies, with the number of people claiming asylum in the UK falling by 4 per cent in 2025 – despite the number of people arriving illegally to the country on small boats rising by 13 per cent.
Indians were ranked seventh among nationals claiming asylum in the past year, with Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria and Vietnam completing the top 10 tally.
"These nationalities, as well as India, have also seen a large increase in work and study visa grants since 1 January 2021, following (post-Brexit) changes to the immigration system," the Home Office said.