Researchers ‘much more likely to leave UK’ than other professions

Foreign-born researchers are significantly more likely to leave the UK than other skilled workers, according to a new report.

The Migration Advisory Committee (Mac), an influential government-backed body, investigated how the length of time that skilled worker main applicants stay in the UK is affected by individual and employment characteristics between 2014 and 2024.

Using a new dataset that combines migrant journey data with information from certificates of sponsorship, the report found that health and care workers are particularly likely to remain in the country long term.

Almost all care workers and nurses were still in the country three years after starting their visa.

Even 10 years on from arriving in the UK, 86 per cent of nurses were still there – as were 81 per cent of all medical practitioners.

In contrast, natural and social science professionals have the lowest stay rates among common occupations with only 57 per cent remaining in the UK after five years. After a decade, just 51 per cent of these workers, who are predominantly academics, are still in the country.

In general, the Mac said that education – and higher education in particular – has a significantly lower stay rate than other industries. The report excludes researchers hired under the Global Talent visa.

It suggested these earlier exits are largely driven by temporary contracts and career paths which tend to be more global than in other sectors.

“Lower stay rates among this group may be a result of typical working practices within the higher education sector where short-term contracts are common for academic staff and workers themselves may be more internationally mobile than those working in other sectors.”

The Mac speculated that groups with lower stay rates, such as academics, could be more susceptible to being deterred by a less generous settlement offer, or may be more likely to leave if they are already in the UK and are moved to a longer path to settlement.

The skilled worker route was significantly tightened in 2024, when the general salary threshold was upped from £26,200 to £38,700.  

And in last year’s immigration White Paper, it was restricted further when the skills threshold was raised to graduate level.

The analysis also found that migrants from the highest salary band (above £125,000) exhibit the lowest stay rates, particularly over the long term. But those initially earning less than £40,000 have the highest stay rates.

And it showed that the number of students transferring to their first skilled worker visa increased from 43,700 between 2014 and 2020 to 137,800 between 2021 and 2024.

Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, has served as interim chair of the Mac since King’s College London professor Brian Bell stepped down to become the chief economic adviser to the Treasury.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com