The Government has published fresh migration statistics this morning, showing that health and care visas for foreign workers have almost doubled to 146,477 in the last year.
Family members joining their relatives via this route accounted for 73 per cent of the 279,131 work dependent visas that were granted in the year up to December 2023.
The UK granted asylum to 62,336 people in 2023, the highest level ever recorded.
The asylum backlog, however, has fallen. The number of cases awaiting an initial decision has fallen by 28 per cent since December 2022.
At the end of December 2023, there were 95,252 cases waiting for an initial decision.
In total, there were 67,337 new asylum applications in the UK in 2023, 17 per cent lower than 2022.
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