Study visa applications for the UK down a quarter on last year

Demand to study in the UK has fallen by a third in the first quarter of the year, new figures reveal.

After disappointing figures for the start of the year, the latest Home Office statistics show a continuing pattern of falling applications.

A total of 5,900 main applicants applied for sponsored study visas in the UK in March – 25 per cent less than in the same month last year.

This means that there have been only 29,900 applications in the first three months of the year. This is 31 per cent less than the 43,100 in the same period in 2025, and 36 per cent below 2022 levels.

The news will be a worry for universities that have been hoping for a continued rebound in overseas enrolment. Separate estimates had suggested that English institutions have taken in slightly more international postgraduate taught students in 2025-26.

The Home Office figures show that only 900 applications were made for dependant visas. Alongside February, this is the joint lowest for any month since the start of 2022.

It means that 3,200 family members have applied for study visas between January and March this year – a fall of 24 per cent on last year. This is down 90 per cent on a peak of 32,900 in 2023.

The former Conservative government introduced a ban on visas for family members apart from those on postgraduate research courses in January 2024 – triggering the large decreases seen since then.

Overall, 33,100 applications have been made for sponsored study related visas so far in 2026 – a 30 per cent drop on last year.

But the number for the 12 months to March (433,700) has fallen by just 1 per cent on the previous year period.

Experts recently warned that falling overseas demand in 2026 should serve as a “sharp warning” to policymakers in the wake of the new international education strategy that targets a growth in education exports to £40 billion a year by 2030.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com