This Accredited Official Statistics publication provides comprehensive statistics on the operation of the UK immigration system.The UK immigration system undertakes a wide range of activities including issuing visas to those outside of the UK, changes to visas, and grants of settlement and citizenship to those already in the UK. It also provides safe and legal (humanitarian) routes of entry, as well as granting asylum and carrying out enforcement action.
This diagram is a simplification and doesn’t include all parts of the immigration system, such as people crossing the border who do not require a visa or have entered via an illegal route. Data in different parts of the immigration system is not always comparable.
The EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) figure relates to grants of settled status, including the estimated figure for automated grants of settled status, in the YE March 2026.
Within the publication, the latest Refugee Family Reunion figures are referenced in both the Family and Safe and Legal (Humanitarian) sections. To avoid duplication, Refugee Family Reunion grants for the latest year ending are presented within the Family visas figure.
1. How many people come to the UK each year?
In the YE March 2026 there were 136.8 million arrivals to the UK. The majority (57%) were British nationals. Of the non-British arrivals, most will be short-term visitors, with smaller numbers arriving for other reasons such as work, study, family and humanitarian protection.
there were 2.2 million Visitor visas and 19,853 Transit visas granted in the YE March 2026
in addition, 25.1 million Electronic Travel Authorisations (ETAs) have been issued in the YE March 2026, which allow eligible individuals to visit the UK for short periods
people also come to the UK for other reasons, such as work, study, family and humanitarian reasons, and usually require an entry clearance visa – there were 779,000 visas issued for a non-visit reason in the latest year
Figure 2: Total numbers of visas granted in key categories and people detected entering via illegal routes, in the YE March 2026
Source: Entry clearance visa applications and outcomes – Vis_D02; Safe and legal (humanitarian) routes summary tables – Hum_01; Illegal entry routes to the UK – IER_D01
For further details see ‘How many people come to the UK each year?’.
2. Why do people come to the UK – Work?
there were 253,000 work visas granted across all work categories in the YE March 2026, 17% fewer than the previous year and 59% fewer than in the YE December 2023, when the number of work visas peaked
there were 111,000 Skilled Worker visas granted in the latest year, which was 76% fewer than the peak in the YE December 2023. This fall was due to a decline in Health and Care visas issued (primarily care workers), with visas issued to main applicants in a Caring Personal Service occupation falling from 108,000 to 1,400 over this period
there were 83,000 visas granted for ‘Temporary Workers’ in the YE March 2026, which was 7% higher than the previous year
the number of extensions granted on work routes, remained stable in the latest year at 738,000, following increases since 2021 – the increases reflect the high number of entry clearance grants issued in 2022 and 2023, many of which now require extensions of leave to remain