The most recent immigration statistics have landed. Do they tell us anything?

The immigration statistics for January were published yesterday.   They look remarkably similar to those published last month - around 1900 visas issued to health and care professionals.  4,000 new Skilled Worker visas on top of that, dependants of both groups pretty well stable. 

Noteworthy?  On their face, hardly. 

But when UKVI very often feels ‘functionally opaque’, a black box, the Immigration Rules provide a small portal through which to peer in.  They give us a good sense of the effect of changes to the Immigration Rules (public domain) but also a sense of internal policies and decision making (not public domain) as well giving a sense of the sentiment around international recruitment among health and care providers.

So, through that portal what do we see?  I see stability - a sense of what government considers an acceptable or appropriate of level skilled migration (like it or not, it’s something to work with).  And in that, opportunity for providers who cannot find the people they need to develop and grow their services. 

If you need help navigating international recruitment - contact us, we’ve been helping health and care providers to strengthen and grow for 25 years.