Visas issued (Before Entry)

There was a 4% increase (to 526,736) in the number of visas issued (excluding visitors and transit visas).


There was a fall of 20% for family-related visas issued (down to 33,747), while grants of permission to
stay permanently increased by 26% (to 59,098).

A rise of 138% in family-related extensions of stay (to 36,752) was in large part due to 14,150 extra extensions recorded under the new Family life (10 year) route that would previously have been recorded as discretionary leave.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...september-2013

UKIP would soon whittle those numbers down