THE most number of care workers sponsored for work visas in UK were from India (33 per cent), followed by Zimbabwe (16 per cent), Nigeria (15 per cent) and the Philippines (11 per cent), a new report has revealed.
The study by the Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford added that India was also the top country of nationality for newly recruited overseas doctors (20 per cent) and nurses (46 per cent). Nurses from the Philippines (22 per cent), Nigeria (14 per cent), Ghana (6 per cent) and Zimbabwe (3 per cent) also arrived in the UK in large numbers last year.
The report, commissioned by the employment group ReWAGE, warned that Britain is becoming highly reliant on overseas care workers as it issued 58,000 visas for the sector last year.
According to the report, the NHS and care homes are exposed to vulnerabilities due to the demand for foreign staff, which included risks such as competition for health workers on an international scale and therisks of exploitation.
In the year to March, 57,700 care workers received skilled work visas, the report said.
From February 2022 to March 2023, there was a notable rise in the percentage of staff employed in the residential care sector working for an employer with a sponsor license as it increased from 10 per cent to 39 per cent.
Net migration into the UK for 2022 was 606,000, up 24 per cent from 488,000 the year before.
“Health and care employers have benefited a lot from international recruitment. But relying this much on overseas recruits also brings risks. For example, care workers on temporary visas are vulnerable to exploitation and the rapid growth in overseas recruitments makes monitoring pay and conditions a real challenge," Dr Madeleine Sumption, the director of the Migration Observatory, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
The report found that as of October 2022, approximately 47 per cent of fully qualified secondary care doctors in the UK, who typically receive patient referrals from GPs, obtained their primary qualification from a country outside the UK or Ireland.
As of March 2023, the percentage of individuals on the Nursing and Midwifery Council register who received their training overseas had increased to 21 per cent, compared to approximately 15 per cent five years ago.
A government spokesperson told The Guardian, “Skilled worker visas mean we can attract the high-skilled talent the UK needs to grow the economy and boost prosperity, including frontline health and care workers.
“The supply of homegrown NHS staff is increasing, with record numbers of doctors and nurses, and international recruitment is only one part of growing the NHS workforce.”
A protestor is detained by the police during a demonstration against the proposed site of the new Chinese Embassy, outside Royal Mint Court, in London. REUTERS/Carlos Jasso. 
