The UK’s latest quarterly immigration stats show a massive decline in Tier 4 visa issuance worldwide, with only 549 Tier 4 visas issued from April to June – 99 per cent lower than the same period in 2019. Given that the majority of Visa Application Centres were closed throughout this time as a consequence of Covid-19, the data does not come as a surprise.

A small number of visa application centres reopened on June 1 with an additional batch reopening on June 22, but many countries’ application centres were not reopened before the end of Q2.

IES comment:

As noted above, visa application centres were closed for most or all of the Q2 period, so a very large decline was expected. While many centres reopened on June 22 this left very little time for visas to be processed before the end of the quarter on June 30, especially once the time to make a visa issuance decision is taken into account.

Nevertheless, visa applications are not the only challenge to student recruitment this year. The IES rolling surveys have indicated that many international students are planning to leave decision-making as late as possible, with surveys indicating, amongst others, major concerns for students around health and safety.

Despite the low numbers for Q2 it is worth remembering that the main bulk of student visas are issued in the 3rd quarter of the year (July to September) – Q2 only accounted for about 15 per cent of all student visas globally last year. The latest information on VAC openings across the globe can be found via the British Council’s heat maps here.

Additional data:

The tables below shows all nationalities receiving 10 or more visas in Q2. Visa statistics are based on nationality rather than country of domicile – for example, even though Canadian visa centres had not been reopened before the end of the Q2 period, visas may have been issued to Canadian citizens living in other countries or regions. Figures are for main applicants only, i.e. excluding dependents.

Breaking down the figures to Tier 4 General vs Tier 4 Child visas, the figures are as below: