Family Visa Extensions Rose by More Than a Third in Year to March 2026
25 May 2026
If you are on a Family visa and approaching your first extension, new Home Office figures show a sharp rise in extensions being processed and granted.
The Home Office published immigration statistics on 21 May 2026, covering the year ending March 2026. The data shows 77,271 Family visa extensions were granted, which is "an increase of more than one-third compared with the YE March 2025." This reflects a large cohort of family route applicants who arrived around 2022 and 2023 now reaching their first renewal point.
New Family visa grants tell a different story. Overall grants fell 17% to 62,470 in the same period. Partner route grants came to 39,169, also down 17% year on year. Pakistani nationals received 8,750 family visas, making up 14% of all grants, with over 80% issued under the Partner route.
The longer-term picture for family route holders is encouraging. The statistics note that "58% had ILR after 5 years, increasing to 81% after 10 years" among those who arrived on the family route. That rate is notably higher than for work and study migrants. There is nothing you need to act on as a result of these figures, but if you are tracking your path to settlement they offer useful context on how family route holders fare over time.
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