49,498 Nigerian workers got UK work visas in five years — Report

What the report says

The Punch reported that UK Home Office occupation visa data obtained by Sunday PUNCH showed 49,498 work visas were granted to Nigerians from 2021 through the first quarter of 2026. The newspaper said Nigeria recorded the second-largest total globally among nationalities in the data, behind India, with Nigerian applicants receiving approvals at a reported 90.5% grant rate across 54,707 applications in the period covered.

The report said health and social care jobs accounted for the overwhelming majority of approvals. The Health and Care Worker route made up 42,893 of Nigeria’s grants, with care workers and home carers receiving 22,376, followed by nurses, senior care workers and medical practitioners. The broader human health and social work sector represented 42,503 grants, while non-health Skilled Worker approvals included accountants, software developers, consultants and IT specialists. Creative Worker visas added 1,791 grants.

According to the figures cited by The Punch, Nigerian work visa grants rose from 5,119 in 2021 to 14,084 in 2022 and peaked at 28,495 in 2023, before falling sharply after UK policy changes. The report linked the earlier surge to the UK’s expansion of the Health and Care Worker visa during post-pandemic and post-Brexit labour shortages, while noting that later restrictions included tighter sponsorship rules, a bar on care workers bringing dependants, higher salary thresholds and action against non-compliant employers.

The story matters because it highlights both the scale of Nigerian labour migration to the UK and the sensitivity around recruiting from countries with health workforce shortages. The Punch noted that Nigeria is on the World Health Organisation’s red list, meaning UK NHS bodies are discouraged from direct recruitment there, even as individual workers may apply independently.