Student visa applications to the UK for the first quarter of 2025 are at their highest level for three years, figures show.

A ban on the vast majority of international students bringing their family members with them has caused significant fluctuations in visa numbers over the past year ¨C and caused considerable financial damage to the sector.

But recent statistics have shown promising indications?in student demand, although dependant numbers have remained much lower than in recent years.

show that 7,900 main applicants applied for sponsored study visas in March ¨C up from 6,500 in February.

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This was also 65 per cent more than in March last year, and the most for the same month since at least 2021.

However, applications from dependants numbered just 900 last month ¨C the lowest monthly total since comparable monthly records began in 2022.

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They were?down from 1,600 in the same month last year and 89 per cent less than in March 2023. That month, the number of applications from dependants outnumbered those from main applicants.

But in March of this year, there were nine times more from students than from family members.

Following a promising start to the year ¨C and turbulent political climates elsewhere ¨C it means that main applicants have submitted 43,100 applications for the first three months of the year.

This is a 27 per cent increase on the same period in 2024, and only slightly below the 46,900 submitted in the first quarter of 2022 ¨C a year?that saw record student migration to the country.

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When dependants are taken into account, 47,300 sponsored study-related visa applications have been submitted for the first quarter of the year.

This is above the levels recorded in 2024 but well below those in 2023 and 2022.

A ban on family members coming to the UK, apart from with students on postgraduate research courses, began in January 2024.

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com