UK study visa grants strengthening in first half of 2025
- The total number of study visas granted to foreign students in the UK declined by just over -4% for the year ending June 2025 compared to the year before
- However, visa grants increased by 18% for the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, indicating a return to growth in the first half of this year
A 21 August 2025 data release from the UK Home Office shows that student visa grants were up by 18% for the first six months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
However, year-over-year comparisons blunt that progress a little. For the year ending June 2025, there were 431,725 sponsored study visa grants. This is -18% lower than the year ending June 2024. However, most of that decline can be attributed to the continuing decline in accompanying dependant numbers. The number of grants to dependants fell -81% year over year, extending the dramatic fall in dependant numbers from early 2024 on. The actual year-over-year decline in study visa grants to main applicants was just more than -4% (from 432,097 for the year ending June 2024 to 413,921 for the year ending June 2025).
Even so, the volume of study visa grants to main applicants – for the year ending June 2025 – remains 52% higher than pre-COVID levels. And, as we see, in the following chart, that is in spite of a true hollowing out of accompanying dependant numbers over the last two years. The chart also reflects a notable strengthening in visa grants through the first of this year.
“The decrease in visas issued from 2024 was due to fewer dependants following a policy change for courses starting on or after 1 January 2024, whereby only researched-based postgraduate students are allowed to bring dependants (partners and children) to the UK,” explains the Home Office.
In other words, while total visa grants are down over the last two years, that decline is largely attributable to the dramatic drop in grants for accompanying dependants, and to the corresponding pressure it placed on main applicant numbers from some key growth markets for the UK. As we see in the chart above, the grants to main applicants grew strongly in the early part of this decade, as COVID-era travel restrictions began to ease, and have returned to growth in the first half of this year.
Growth drivers
The top five sending markets for the UK account for roughly two thirds (66%) of all foreign enrolments in the country. The Home Office adds that, "Chinese students saw a notable fall in numbers around the COVID-19 pandemic but are now the most common nationality with 99,919 (24%) study visas granted in the year ending June 2025. Indian students were almost as numerous, with 98,014 (24%) visas granted. The third most common nationality was Pakistan with 37,013 (9%) study visas granted to main applicants."
The ban on most accompanying dependants (from January 2024) had its most severe impact on important growth markets such as Nigeria and India, which have continued to decline for the year ending June 2025.
Finally, the home office notes that growing enrolment in graduate programmes has been another important growth driver since the pandemic: "The trend in sponsored study visas in recent years has been mainly driven by those coming to study for a masters (accounting for over 60% of study visas over the last 5 years). In the year ending March 2025, 4 out of 5 (81%) Indian students came to the UK to study for a masters level qualification, compared to just over half (59%) of Chinese students."
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