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Changes to the skilled worker visa route for foreign workers were made without understanding the impact it would have and resulted in thousands more migrants claiming asylum in Britain, a watchdog has found.

There had been a significant increase in the number of people holding a Skilled Worker visa claiming asylum - up from 53 claims in 2022 to 5,300 in the first 10 months of 2024, the National Audit Office (NAO) revealed on Tuesday.

It comes as the Government prepares to publish a White Paper, expected in the summer, which will lay out plans “to restore” the UK’s “broken immigration system”.

Far more foreign workers are also using the Skilled Worker route to come to Britain than the Government anticipated, the spending watchdog said in its report.

The Home Office forecast that it would issue 360,000 of the visas to people entering the country over the first three years, but has issued 931,000.

The route was first introduced in 2020 in a bid to bring much needed workers to the UK. But there have been significant changes to the rules since then and they “have not always been based on a full assessment of potential impacts”, the watchdog said.

Requirements for foreign care workers were eased in 2022 because of significant staff shortages in the sector. However, in spring last year the Home Office tightened visa rules and implemented a ban on workers bringing dependants to Britain with them as part of the previous Government’s bid to cut record levels of immigration.

“The Home Office does not have a full understanding of how the Skilled Worker visa route is operating, the NAO report states.

“More people are using the Skilled Worker visa route than the Home Office anticipated in 2020...This has brought benefits. In December 2024, the Migration Advisory Committee conducted analysis which suggests that, on average, migrants on Skilled Worker visas have a positive net fiscal impact on government finances.

“However, the higher-than-anticipated use of the route also has consequences, such as an 80% increase in people staying permanently in the UK in 2024, compared with 2021; a 360% increase in the number of dependants entering the UK annually, from 55,200 in 2021 to 254,100 in 2023; and the number of people claiming asylum after entering the UK on a Skilled Worker visa rising.”

The Home Office reviewed the use of the route in 2022, but did not assess the impact of changes to entry requirements since its expansion to include care workers.

It resulted in the Government not “fully understanding” how the route is being used, its contribution to the economy, or impacts on skill shortages across sectors or regions.

The NAO said impacts of changes since the 2022 expansion to include care workers had not been assessed.

The watchdog recommended that a Home Office evaluation of the route should be published within the next three months and an assessment of what happens to people at the end of their visa period should be completed by the end of the year.

Last week, the Home Office announced new visa rules for providers, workers and students.

Employers will have to prioritise hiring foreign carers already living in England before recruiting from overseas, under the measures laid in Parliament.

The minimum salary required for Skilled Worker visas is also being increased. From April 9 it will rise from £23,200 per year to £25,000 (or £12.82 per hour).

The Home Office also revealed more than 470 sponsor licences in the care sector had been revoked between July 2022 and December 2024 in a crackdown on abuse and exploitation in the visa system.

More than 39,000 workers were associated with those sponsors since October 2020, the department said.

Migrant help charity the Work Rights Centre said the figures are a "shocking revelation of the scale of fraud and exploitation under the sponsorship system".

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: "The Home Office, and departments, must make better use of data to understand the impacts of changes to the Skilled Worker visa route, improve customer experiences and prevent the exploitation of visa holders."

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, said it was "disappointing that the Home Office lacks a clear understanding of how the system is currently functioning, including what happens to people when their visa ends, and the impacts of changes made to the visa route".

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We welcome the National Audit Office's report. This government has already begun work to implement many of their recommendations, including a new joined-up approach between Skills England, the Department for Work and Pensions, and the Industrial Strategy Council alongside the independent Migration Advisory Committee.

"Under the Plan for Change, we will go further and publish a White Paper to restore order to our broken immigration system. This will link our immigration, skills and visa systems so we can grow our domestic workforce and end the reliance on overseas labour to boost economic growth."