Scotland's Migration Service: early insights evaluation
This report presents the findings from an early‑insights evaluation of Scotland’s Migration Service, which will inform future policy development and provide further recommendations.
Footnotes
1 Finding the right visa - Scotland.org | Scotland.org
2 Why do people come to the UK - Work? - GOV.UK
3 Skilled Worker visa changes (July 2025) | Scotland.org
4 Health and Care Worker visa: Your job - GOV.UK
5 Forecast figures are subject to uncertainty and should be treated as indicative. This is because elements of the spend are demand-led, staff costs are subject to annual reviews, and the project is managed in line with Agile ‘test and learn’ development cycles. Forecasts are only provided up until the end of the 26/27 financial year because a decision has not yet been made regarding whether the service will continue operating in subsequent financial years.
6 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/restoring-control-over-the-immigration-system-white-paper
1 NRS (2024) Scotland's Population 2023 - The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends.
2 Scottish Fiscal Commission (2025) Fiscal Sustainability Report.
3 NRS (2024) Scotland's Population 2023 - The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends.
4 Scottish Fiscal Commission (2025) Fiscal Sustainability Report.
5SG (2021) A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population.
6 SG (2022) National Strategy for Economic Transformation
7SG (2021) A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population
8 NRS (2024) Scotland's Population 2023 - The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends.
9 Scottish Fiscal Commission (2025) Fiscal Sustainability Report.
10 NRS (2024) Scotland's Population 2023 - The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends.
11 NRS (2025) Mid-2024 Population Estimates.
12 Ibid.
13 SG (2021) A Scotland for the future: opportunities and challenges of Scotland's changing population, p. 64.
14 SG (2022) National Strategy for Economic Transformation
15 SG (2016) The impacts of migrants and migration into Scotland.
16 MAC (2018) EEA migration in the UK.
17 Luz et al (2025) ‘Meta-Analysis: The Impact of Immigration on the Economic Performance of the Host Country’, Economies, 13(8).
18 Campo, F et al (2018) The Impact of Migration on Productivity and Native-born Workers’ Training; see also IZA Institute of Labor Economics (2025) Migration and Productivity in the UK: An Analysis of Employee Payroll Data
19 SG (2025) Migration – Meeting Scotland’s Needs.
21 NRS (2024) Scotland's Population 2023 - The Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends.
22Scottish Fiscal Commission (2025) Fiscal Sustainability Report.
23See for example OBR Fiscal risk and sustainability reports 2025, 2024, and 2023.
24 NRS (2025) Projected Population of Scotland: 2022-based
25 Current eligibility criteria are available here: Book an advice appointment | Scotland.org.
The eligibility criteria were devised based on four principles:
1) Eligibility criteria should be clear and transparent.
2) Eligibility criteria should be set at an optimum level to manage demand.
3) The service must not duplicate existing services.
4) The service must use its limited budget effectively and efficiently to have the greatest impact on service users and Scotland’s economy.
26 Scottish Government (2022). Population Taskforce minutes: February 2022 - gov.scot
27 Emma Roddick MSP in her role as Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees between March 2023-May 2024; from May 2024 Kaukab Stewart MSP in her role as Minister for Equalities
29 Digital Scotland Service Standard - Service Manual
30 Data from project records used in this early insights evaluation may differ slightly from figures published in quarterly performance data publications for SMS. Quarterly publications use the latest, and most up-to-date data available. By comparison, this evaluation analysed records available up to August 2025, and in some cases, CAS and Seraphus had retroactively added details about some appointments, which were not initially included in appointment records. This can account for discrepancies in figures reported here and in SMS’ quarterly publications.
31 SG (2025) Understanding Survey Nonresponse Behaviours_Evidence and Practical Solutions
32 The sample sizes for the user feedback surveys were calculated from the total number of users not the total number of appointments.
33There is a known issue with the SMS web analytics dashboard in which there is a discrepancy between the total page views reported for all SMS pages and the sum of individual page views across different parts of the platform. Figures should therefore be considered an estimate rather than an exact indication of the level of traffic which SMS websites have received. At different times, bots have also influenced web traffic figures to a greater and lesser extent.
34 This includes a number of pages on Scotland.org and Scotland’s Migration Service for Employers and Investors website
35 Prior to the launch of the full service in November 2024, SMS webpages included only a small number of pages hosted on scotland.org, which focused on providing more general advice on visa and immigration, studying in Scotland, living in Scotland, and business in Scotland.
36 Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) - Service Manual
37 Readability - Service Manual
38 Represents cases where British nationals attended appointments on behalf of a spouse/dependent or migrants who had moved to Scotland more than two years ago.
39 In most cases these individuals were looking for more general advice, not specifically linked to migration and were referred to other departments in CAS.
40 Represents nationalities from which 25 or fewer individuals contacted the service
41 SMS KPI statistics are generated on a monthly basis, using data from user feedback surveys completed directly after advice appointments. As such, KPIs are not informed by feedback surveys submitted by users 3-6 months after appointments take place.
42 The IHS is a mandatory fee that most UK visa applicants need to pay which grants the visa holder access to the NHS.
44 It should be noted that the percentage is currently below the KPI target of 80%. The feedback survey sample also represents 3% of users which limits its representativeness.
Contact
Email: migrationservice@gov.scot