India and Nigeria driving surge in UK visa grants this year
- UK visa grants to foreign students have spiked this year, for overall growth of +71% between June 2019 and June 2022
- Much of that volume results from significant increases in the number of visas granted to students from India, Nigeria, and Pakistan
- Grants to Chinese students, meanwhile, declined slightly over the same period
The UK's Home Office is reporting a for the fiscal year ending June 2022.
The UK granted nearly 487,000 sponsored student visas in the 12 months leading up to June, which represents a 71% increase from 2019, the last full fiscal year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Total visa grants this year are certainly bolstered by visas issued to EEA and Swiss nationals, a new requirement that arises from the UK's departure from the EU in early 2021. But the Home Office reports that EEA and Swiss students account for only about 5% of the total study visas granted this year.
Major growth drivers
The big news this year is that India has surpassed China – for the first time since 2011 – as the leading sender of foreign students for the UK. The total number of visas granted to Indian students grew by more than 200% between June 2019 and June 2022.
As we see in the table below, other notable growth markets include Nigeria (+686% over the same period) and Pakistan (+377%). Following a pattern we have observed for other major destinations, grants to Chinese students actually declined between June 2019 and June 2022.
A significant majority of visas (90%) were granted for higher education studies with the balance distributed as follows:
- Independent schools (4%)
- Further education (3%)
- English language schools (2%)
- Other (1%)
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