A total of 49,498 Nigerians secured United Kingdom work visas between 2021 and the first quarter of 2026, according to official immigration data released by the UK Home Office.
The figures showed that Nigerians submitted 54,707 work visa applications during the period, with about 90.5 per cent receiving approval.
Healthcare workers accounted for the largest share of successful applicants, with more than 42,000 visas issued under the Health and Care Worker route. Care workers and home carers received the highest number of approvals, followed by nurses, senior care workers, medical practitioners, nursing auxiliaries, radiographers and physiotherapists.
The Human Health and Social Work sector employed nearly 86 per cent of Nigerians granted work visas during the period.
Outside the healthcare sector, Nigerians also secured Skilled Worker visas in professions such as accounting, software development, business consulting, information technology and web development. Others entered the UK through the Creative Worker route, which covers occupations in the entertainment industry.
The report showed that work visa approvals for Nigerians rose from 5,119 in 2021 to 14,084 in 2022 before reaching a peak of 28,495 in 2023.
However, approvals declined sharply after the UK tightened its immigration rules in 2024. The changes included restrictions preventing most overseas care workers from bringing dependants, higher salary thresholds for Skilled Worker visas, stricter sponsorship requirements and tougher enforcement against non-compliant employers.
As a result, only 2,851 work visas were granted to Nigerians throughout 2025, with approvals remaining low in the first quarter of 2026.
The earlier rise in approvals was driven largely by the UK’s expansion of the Health and Care Worker visa scheme to address labour shortages in the country’s health and social care sectors following the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit.
The report also noted that Nigeria recorded the highest number of UK work visa approvals among African countries during the period, ahead of Zimbabwe and Ghana.
Globally, India received the highest number of occupation-based work visas, while Nigeria ranked second with 49,498 approvals over the five-year period.
