The sharpest evidence yet of the UK’s 2025 immigration reforms has emerged from New Delhi. Figures tabled in India’s parliament on 14 December reveal that the number of UK Health & Care Worker visas issued to Indian nationals fell 67 per cent to 16,606 between July and November, while nursing-specific visas collapsed 79 per cent to just 2,225. Information-technology visas – historically India’s strongest category – dropped 20 per cent to 10,051.
Indian ministers told MPs the falls coincide with changes the UK introduced on 22 July that raised salary and skills thresholds, curtailed mid-skilled occupations and shortened the Graduate Route. The data, sourced from the UK Home Office but released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, offer the first independent confirmation that the Sunak/Starmer White Paper is biting hard into third-country recruitment.
For UK employers the figures are a warning shot: health-service trusts and technology consultancies that relied heavily on Indian talent now face acute shortages just as winter NHS pressures mount and digital-skills demand spikes. Higher English-language standards coming in January and a 32 per cent rise in the Immigration Skills Charge on 16 December will amplify costs still further. Compliance teams should accelerate any pending Certificates of Sponsorship before the fee hike and audit graduate-hiring pipelines to avoid breaching new wage minima.
![UK Immigration Overhaul Slashes Indian Work Visas by 67%, Data Shows]()
VisaHQ’s specialised UK service (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) can streamline that compliance push. The platform’s experts monitor every change to salary thresholds, occupation codes and sponsorship fees, and they can prepare or review Certificates of Sponsorship and visa bundles on employers’ behalf—saving HR teams time and helping applicants steer clear of costly refusals.
For Indian professionals, the landscape has narrowed. Applicants who previously qualified via mid-level care roles must now meet senior-carer salary rates or pivot to alternative pathways such as the High Potential Individual or Global Talent visas. Migration advisers in both countries predict a spike in intra-company transfers and remote-first contracts as firms search for work-around solutions.
Strategically, the drop bolsters the UK government’s claim that its reforms will cut net migration by more than 200,000 over five years, but it risks straining the UK-India trade negotiations, where labour-mobility concessions are a key demand from Delhi. Multinationals should prepare for further turbulence – and for tougher justifications when sponsoring Indian staff in 2026.
Indian ministers told MPs the falls coincide with changes the UK introduced on 22 July that raised salary and skills thresholds, curtailed mid-skilled occupations and shortened the Graduate Route. The data, sourced from the UK Home Office but released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, offer the first independent confirmation that the Sunak/Starmer White Paper is biting hard into third-country recruitment.
For UK employers the figures are a warning shot: health-service trusts and technology consultancies that relied heavily on Indian talent now face acute shortages just as winter NHS pressures mount and digital-skills demand spikes. Higher English-language standards coming in January and a 32 per cent rise in the Immigration Skills Charge on 16 December will amplify costs still further. Compliance teams should accelerate any pending Certificates of Sponsorship before the fee hike and audit graduate-hiring pipelines to avoid breaching new wage minima.
VisaHQ’s specialised UK service (https://www.visahq.com/united-kingdom/) can streamline that compliance push. The platform’s experts monitor every change to salary thresholds, occupation codes and sponsorship fees, and they can prepare or review Certificates of Sponsorship and visa bundles on employers’ behalf—saving HR teams time and helping applicants steer clear of costly refusals.
For Indian professionals, the landscape has narrowed. Applicants who previously qualified via mid-level care roles must now meet senior-carer salary rates or pivot to alternative pathways such as the High Potential Individual or Global Talent visas. Migration advisers in both countries predict a spike in intra-company transfers and remote-first contracts as firms search for work-around solutions.
Strategically, the drop bolsters the UK government’s claim that its reforms will cut net migration by more than 200,000 over five years, but it risks straining the UK-India trade negotiations, where labour-mobility concessions are a key demand from Delhi. Multinationals should prepare for further turbulence – and for tougher justifications when sponsoring Indian staff in 2026.
