Skilled worker visa applications from international researchers coming to the UK fell last year, figures obtained from the Home Office show, prompting warnings that the country is becoming less attractive post-Brexit.
The Home Office recorded 1,284 applications and extensions for skilled worker visas from researchers between July and September 2022, according to figures provided in response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request from the law firm Eversheds Sutherland that were shared with Times Higher Education.
This was a decline of 18 per cent from the same period in 2021, although higher than third-quarter figures for 2020, which came during some of the strictest pandemic travel restrictions.
It means that 5,330 applications were recorded across the 2021-22 academic year – down from 6,291 the year before, although citizens of European Union member states have required a work visa only since 1 January 2021.
