Labour urged not to drop Conservative plan to stop people earning under £38,700 from bringing foreign spouses or partners to the UK as Tory visa crackdown sees student and worker arrivals drop by 35 percent

Foreign student and worker arrivals have dropped by more than a third this year as a result of a crackdown on legal migration instigated by the Conservatives.

New figures show a 35 per cent decrease in visa applications for health and care staff, skilled workers and students between January and July compared with the same period last year.

The biggest fall has been among overseas healthcare staff wanting to work in the NHS or care homes, after the former Tory administration stopped them bringing their families with them.

Applications for Health and Care Worker visas plunged by a massive 81 per cent between April and July this year, following the introduction of the restrictions in March, compared with the same period in 2023.

There were only 2,900 main applicants in July, down from 16,200 a year earlier.

The Home Office statistics published yesterday also revealed a drop in international students since January when new rules came into force meaning they could not bring dependents except on postgraduate research courses.

Sponsored study visa applications fell by 16 per cent from January to July last year to the same period this year, from 187,100 to 156,800.

Applications for dependents dropped by a massive 81 per cent over the same period.

However Skilled Worker visa applications rose by 26 per cent between April and July this year compared to the year before, with a peak of 10,100 in April.

Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly hailed the figures as proof that his tougher rules – announced last December amid alarm among Tories that voters would punish them for overseeing record levels of immigration – were working, even if it will be Labour who feel the benefit.

He said: ‘We know net migration is too high, which is why when I became Home Secretary I introduced a record migration cut within weeks of being appointed. Today’s data continues to show my stricter approach is working, with student and health care dependents banned and skilled workers and family visas requiring much higher earnings.’

But he warned that the new Labour government risks jeopardising his attempts to cut net migration – the number of people moving to the UK minus those leaving – after it reached a record 764,000 in 2022.

His successor Yvette Cooper has paused his plan to increase the income needed to bring a foreign partner to the UK from £29,000 to £38,700 and asked the Migration Advisory Committee to review the level. New Science Minister Lord Vallance has suggested relaxing visa rules for scientists.

Tory leadership candidate Mr Cleverly said: ‘Visa applications are down by more than a third where we took action, but Labour want to put this all at risk. They have already binned our Conservative plans to raise the earnings threshold for family dependents, while their Ministers openly advocate for lowering EU visa restrictions.

‘They never cared about controlling our borders and they will leave the British people to pick up the bill.’

During the election campaign, Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to reduce ‘sky-high’ migration but would not put a figure on it while Rishi Sunak vowed to halve the number of arrivals.