Health and social care visas also saw large numbers of delays, with 70,275 not meeting the timeframe since 2020 – and a further 29,586 exempted.
It comes when vacancies for the beleaguered NHS stand “stubbornly high” according to the British Medical Association (BMA), with there being 107,865 in secondary care as of September 2024.
Many migrants looking to move to the UK are also in skilled professions such as tech, construction and transport. Both Labour and the Conservatives have vowed to cut immigration numbers, and rules have been tightened on bringing dependents to the UK – with the salary threshold raised from £18,600 to £29,000.
Anna*, a healthcare worker from Bulgaria, said: “I do not think they are making it intentionally difficult, but a lot of changes have been implemented [in] a short duration of time.”
Kelvin from Hong Kong, said the wait for their visa to be processed left them “hanging in the air” and unable to plan their life. They added that while the helpline staff “sounded helpful”, they were often unable to advise on more complex applications beyond suggesting a different number to call.
Many visa applicants are required to remain in Britain while awaiting a decision – which can lead to them being unable to visit family and friends in their home countries while at the mercy of delayed processing.
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Others face delays to starting their visa-dependent employment, costing them much needed income to support themselves and their families.
Amir*, an NHS doctor from India, toldBig Issue how he faced major delays to his visa being updated following the pandemic. “I could not travel back home, and unfortunately the Home Office has no temporary provision which could help visa applicants to travel in case of emergency,” he said. “If we travel while application is in process, then the application becomes invalid and applicant I won’t get any refund either.”
The FOI data further showed that applicants for settled status in the UK (Indefinite Leave to Remain, or ILR) also face substantial delays – with nearly 70,000 applications taking longer than the Home Office standard since 2017.
Andreea Dumitrache, CEO of the3million, said: “We’ve seen how delays in the Home Office processing of applications lead to people getting stuck in limbo, waiting for months on end and sometimes even years for a decision.
“For people who want to move to the UK, it doesn’t only postpone taking up a new job, but often also means families are pulled apart, with parents being separated from their children, not knowing when they’ll be able to see them next.”
Lisa* from Hong Kong described how her three-year-old daughter’s visa application met with difficulty caused by technical issues.
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Her family were applying for the Hong Kong BNO visa route, during which they were required to present her daughter’s birth certificate because her passport could not be scanned.
She said: “Four months after submitting my application, all my family members were granted a five-year BNO visa except for my daughter. I received an email from the Home Office stating that they had not received her birth certificate and provided a link for me to upload it.
“However, when I clicked the link, it led to an error page. The email also mentioned that if the certificate was not received within a certain timeframe, my daughter’s visa application would be cancelled.”
After days of desperate phone calls to the Home Office to resolve it, an option was suggested for her to mail the certificate to an appeal office – while also being warned they “typically do not process documents received in this manner”.
While this ultimately proved successful, Lisa said the “lack of support makes resolving problems incredibly frustrating and difficult”.
Nick Beales, head of campaigning at the Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London, said: “The Conservative government’s fixation on its cash for humans Rwanda deal saw them neglect and break many other aspects of the UK’s immigration system. This is evidenced by the severe delays in processing straightforward visa applications.
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“These delays have serious consequences for the people affected, and we routinely see parents of British citizen children waiting over a year for the government to issue their visas. Throughout this period they have no proof of their immigration status, are at the mercy of the hostile environment and are routinely wrongly suspended from work and denied other basic services.”
The Home Office did not respond to request for comment.
*names have been changed to protect anonymity.
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