CLAIM: In 2020, the UK issued 1,059 skilled visas to Zimbabweans, a figure which jumped to 5,549 in 2022, placing the southern African country among the UK’s top five skilled visa grantees.
SOURCE: Twitter
VERDICT: PARTLY TRUE
In a number of tweets in January discussing the welfare of Zimbabwean nurses in the UK, a claim was being made that 1 059 skilled visas were issued out to Zimbabweans in 2020, and 5 549 in 2022, making the country one of UK’s top 5 grantees, here, here and here.
The tweets were quoting an article headlined How nurses recruited from Zimbabwe are being caught in UK ‘bonded labour’ schemes, in The Telegraph newspaper.
The claim has been rated partly true as this is correct for the year ending March 2022 but not correct for the year ending September 2022. The article being quoted was published in August before the publication of the September report. This means that while the figures in the article were correct then, they are not now.
Zimbabweans, nurses especially, have been travelling to the UK under the skilled visa rules.
In recent years, there have been media reports that this has led to a shortage of nurses locally, here and here.
Tier 2 of the Points Based System was the primary route for economic migration to the UK. Broadly, the route was for skilled workers from outside the EEA who have an offer of employment in the UK in an occupation classed as skilled to NQF6 or above.
Tier 2 was implemented in November 2008. There were four routes within Tier 2: General, Intra-company transfer, Minister of religion and Sportsperson.
Tier 2 was closed at the end of 2020 and replaced by the Skilled Worker and Intra-Company Transfer routes.
On 15 June 2018, the government announced that doctors and nurses are to be excluded from the cap on Skilled worker visas.
What is a Skilled Worker Visa?
The Skilled Worker visa has replaced the Tier 2 (General) work visa. This permit allows eligible applicants to stay in the UK to do an eligible job with an approved sponsor/employer.
Skilled Worker Visa Requirements
To qualify for a Skilled Worker Visa, you need to be sponsored by a UK-based employer. Besides that, one must meet the following eligibility criteria:
- Be aged 18 or over
- Have a valid Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) for the job you are going to do
- Job should be a genuine vacancy
- Have role at an appropriate level
- Be paid a salary which equals or exceeds the general salary threshold and the “going rate” for one’s occupation
- The required Immigration Skills Charge paid by sponsor
- Demonstrate English proficiency (at least CEFR Level B1)
- Be able to financially sustain oneself and family without relying on public funds
- Provide a criminal record certificate
- Provide a valid TB certificate (if needed)
Under this, there is a category for health workers, Skilled Worker Visa – Health and Care Worker visa.
The story from the numbers
There were 194,557 work-related visas granted in the year ending March 2020 (including dependants), 8% higher than the year ending March 2019, and the highest level since 2007, before the ‘points-based system’ (PBS) was introduced. Most of the rise was accounted for through increases in grants of Skilled (Tier 2) work visas, which increased by 9% (up 9,332) to 115,434. The Tier 2 category accounts for 59% of work-related visas granted.
In the year ending March 2020, there was a 9% (9,332) increase in Tier 2 work visas granted (to 115,434), the highest level on record. The increase was due to a rise in grants in the ‘Tier 2 – General’ category (up 40% to 38,389) and the ‘Tier 2 – Dependant’ category (up 39% to 27,841), which have been rising steadily since July 2018 when doctors and nurses were removed from the Tier 2 visa cap. Tier 2 Dependants are mostly those accompanying people in the Tier 2 General category, for example their close family members, including children. It is therefore, expected that these two groups would rise in line with each other.
42% of Tier 2 visas granted were ‘Intra-company transfers’; however, there was a fall in grants in this category over the previous year (down 16% to 48,644) following a stable trend since the end of 2014.
Indian nationals accounted for half (50%) of all Tier 2 visas granted, and the number of grants increased by 3% to 58,114 in the year ending March 2020. There were also notable increases in grants for nationals of the Philippines (up 3,029 or 75%), and Nigeria (up 1,598 or 59%).
At this point Zimbabwe was nowhere near the top 5. It was in fact, outside the top 20. The jump came between March 2020 and March 2022, with a 424% increase.
By September 2022, the numbers were up again. There were 248,919 grants to main applicants, which represented just under two thirds (65%) of all work visas. This is 82% higher than prior to the pandemic in 2019, and 80% more than in the year ending September 2021, although it should be noted that annual figures are unable to account for changes in travel patterns following the pandemic.
Similarly, for the ‘Skilled Worker – Health and Care’ visa, Indian nationals represented the highest numbe of grants with 36% (22,171) of the total. Nigerian nationals were the second highest with 14% (8,520) followed by Zimbabwean nationals with 13% (7,875), putting Zimbabwe in the top three by September 2022.
Conclusion
The claim that in 2020, the UK issued 1,059 skilled visas to Zimbabweans, a figure which jumped to 5,549 in 2022, placing the southern African country among the UK’s top five skilled visa grantees, has been rated as partly true. This is because the claim does not specify which period in 2022 its referring to as the UK publishes two reports one for year ending March and another for year ending September. The claim is true for year ending March 2022, as stated inthe quoted article. However, for those using the statistics now, the more accurate and recent statistics are those of year ending September 2022, where the UK issued 8 363 skilled worker visas, of which 7 8 75 were Health and Care Worker visas, to Zimbabwean nationals, placing the southern African country in the UK’s top 3 skilled visa grantees after India and Nigeria.
