The British government has admitted that it has no idea whether over 150,000 legal migrants who entered the country on social care visas are still in the UK or not.
A significant cohort of the so-called “Boriswave” of migrants that flooded the country following post-Brexit immigration reforms under former Prime Minister Boris Johnson is entirely unaccounted for, as the government failed to record data on whether they left the country, switched work visas, or are remaining in the country illegally.
Under Johnson’s 2022 immigration liberalisation — which led to historic levels of migration despite him having promised to lower immigration — the government added care staff to the “skilled worker” route, leading to 154,402 five-year visas being issued since then.
However, many such migrants likely entered as family members of social care workers until chain migration was banned for the category the following year, after which the number of visas fell tenfold, falling from 107,772 in 2023 to just 9,539 in 2024, The Telegraph reported. The social care immigration route was ultimately scrapped earlier this year.
According to the broadsheet, the government’s care minister, Stephen Kinnock, told parliament that his department “does not hold data that directly links visa status to ongoing employment in adult social care or residence in the United Kingdom over time.”
“As such, it is not possible to estimate the number or proportion of individuals who entered the UK on a social care work visa and who are still in the UK or working in the social care sector,” the Labour MP admitted.
Kinnock said that some may have returned to their home countries, while others may have switched their visas for another migration category. Yet, given the lack of data, it is also possible that many simply remained illegally in the country as visa overstayers.
The Conservative Party’s Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, said that the Labour government having “lost track” of over 150,000 migrants demonstrated that it “lost control” of Britain’s borders.
“We need to bring the levels of immigration down significantly and swiftly remove anyone who is breaching the conditions of their visa,” he said.
The Tory MP additionally called for introducing an annual cap on the total number of visas issued per year to a “much lower level”. While Labour recently rejected such an effort, it was the Conservative Party, under Boris Johnson, which first refused to implement a cap on migration, a move that critics had warned at the time would lead to an increase in migration.
The Home Office also laid some of the blame on the previous Conservative government, saying that Labour “inherited a data system which was not designed to monitor the long-term outcomes of health and care visa holders – including whether they remain in Britain or continue working in the social care sector.”
Nevertheless, the disclosure will likely only add to the growing anger amongst the public over the failures of both establishment parties to lower immigration and protect the nation’s borders, with widespread protests breaking out in recent weeks throughout the UK against mass migration.
It is not the first time that the government has been forced to admit that it has lost track of significant numbers of foreigners living in the country, with a 2020 report from the National Audit Office conceding at the time that the government had ‘no idea‘ how many illegals were living in Britain.
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