The number of student visas granted in the UK has fallen to a post-pandemic low as refusal rates reached their highest level in a decade, figures show.
Home Office data released on 21 May show that 35,625 sponsored study-related visas were issued in the first three months of the year – the lowest for the quarter since 2020.
This was down almost a third on the number granted in the same period in 2025 and 60 per cent below the 2023 peak. The number of applications fell among all the top 10 largest source countries to the UK market.
In the 12 months to March, 409,954 visas were granted – 3 per cent less than the previous year, and 34 per cent below the year to March 2023.
And amid declining applications, the number of visas refused has also shot up – climbing by 56 per cent year-on-year to 5,499 in the first quarter of 2026.
