Report into Migrants’ Immigration Journeys Published

The Home Office has recently published the fifth in a series of reports that explore migrants’ journeys through the UK’s immigration system.

It explains that understanding the processes that migrants go through when they decide to stay in the UK or switch their status helps to inform Parliament and the public on the impact of changes to the Immigration Rules.

The report’s findings are based on data collected from two UK Visas and Immigration databases, which hold records of individuals granted entry clearance visas, and any subsequent grants of extensions of stay in the UK.

The key facts presented in the report include:

• 20% (18,359) of those issued skilled work visas (with a potential path to settlement) in the 2008 cohort had been granted settlement five years later and a further 8% (6,912) still had valid leave to remain.
• Indian nationals were issued the largest proportion (39%) of skilled work visas in the 2008 cohort and, of these skilled Indian nationals, 19% had received settlement after five years, while a further 7% still had valid leave to remain
• Of the top five nationalities issued skilled work visas in the 2008 cohort, American and Australian nationals on work visas were less likely to have settled after five years (13%) whereas Chinese nationals were more likely to have settled (38% of Chinese skilled workers had reached settlement by 2013).
• More than three-quarters of people (77% or 32,607) issued family visas in the 2008 cohort had been granted settlement five years later, with a further 4% recorded as still having valid leave to remain.
• Migrants granted student and work visas (not leading to settlement), both largely temporary migration routes, were less likely to have either achieved settlement or have valid leave to remain after five years (16% and 6% respectively). Of these, only a small proportion had achieved settlement (1% and 2% respectively) within the five-year timeframe, due to the rules for these visa categories, their propensity to switch into other immigration categories with a route to settlement and the time that would then need to elapse before a settlement application can be made.
• Of those granted settlement in the 2013 cohort, almost half had originally been issued a family or skilled work visa which could potentially lead to settlement and 14% were granted settlement on arrival. Over a third (37%) originally entered on a temporary route and later switched into a route that led to permanent settlement.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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