New rules to be laid in Parliament see skills and salary thresholds rise, overseas recruitment for care workers end, and more than 100 occupations no longer granted access to the immigration system.
These changes, the first to be rolled out from the Immigration White Paper, represent a fundamental shift in the UK’s approach to immigration and restore order to the points-based system, focusing on higher skills, lower numbers and tighter controls. They are an important step in ending the UK’s reliance on overseas, lower skilled recruitment.
The introduction of an interim, time-limited and conditional temporary shortage list will make sure the immigration system works better for the UK, with international recruitment only providing support where occupations are key to the industrial strategy or building crucial infrastructure.
Each sector must have a workforce strategy in place to train UK workers, or it will lose access to the immigration system.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:
We are delivering a complete reset of our immigration system to restore proper control and order, after the previous government allowed net migration to quadruple in four years. These new rules mean stronger controls to bring migration down, to restore order to the immigration system and to ensure we focus on investing in skills and training here in the UK.
As part of the Plan for Change, we can build an immigration system that serves the needs of the British economy and people – one that values skills, tackles exploitation, and ensures those who come to the UK make a genuine contribution.
The package of measures includes:
- raising the skills threshold for Skilled Worker visas, removing 111 eligible occupations
- closing the social care worker visa route to overseas recruitment in response to widespread abuse and exploitation
- only allowing time-limited access below degree level through a targeted immigration salary list and temporary shortage list, for critical roles only, with strict requirements for sectors to grow domestic skills
- commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to conduct a review of the temporary shortage list including occupations, salaries and benefits
Workers in occupations on the temporary shortage list will no longer be able to bring dependants and will not be permitted salary and visa fee discounts. The occupations included on the List are time-limited until the end of 2026 and will only remain beyond that date if the independent Migration Advisory Committee recommend it.
In the interim, the government will not hesitate to restrict immigration access further, should there be clear signs of abuse and exploitation in sectors. In time, we will also abolish the previous government’s immigration salary list. Subject to parliamentary approval, the changes will come into effect from 22 July, and transitional arrangements have also today been set out for overseas care workers already in the UK.
Next steps
Further changes to be implemented by the end of this year also include:
- raising the immigration skills charge
- uplifting language requirements across the immigration system
- unveiling a new family policy framework to Parliament
The Immigration White Paper forms part of a broader programme of immigration and border security reforms, with further measures on asylum and border security to be announced later this year.
