The UK has experienced unprecedented levels of immigration since the pandemic. The latest official estimates show that net migration in the year to June 2023 was 672,000 - up significantly on pre-pandemic volumes but lower than the 745,000 who came in the year to December 2022.
This is partly because of our generosity towards people fleeing conflict and persecution in Ukraine, Hong Kong, and Afghanistan; over 80,000 people have immigrated to the UK on as our Ukraine, BN(O) and resettlement schemes in the last year. But it is also because of rising numbers of overseas students and care workers.
The government has already taken action to address the rise in legal migration with measures to tackle the substantial rise in the number of students bringing dependants to the UK, which came into force in January 2024.
On Monday 4th December 2023, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary announced a plan to slash migration levels and curb abuse of the immigration system. Together, this will mean 300,000 people who came to the UK last year would now not be able to come.
The Minister for Legal Migration and the Border wrote a ‘Dear colleagues’ letter to all MPs on Thursday 21st December 2023 setting out further information on the implementation of these measures. On Tuesday 30 January, further detail was provided on when the government's package to reduce migration will come into force.
Key measures that the Government is taking to cut net migration are:
- Stopping overseas care workers from bringing family dependants and requiring social care firms in England to be undertaking Care Quality Commission registered activities to sponsor visas, which will come into force on 11 March. Last year 120,000 dependants came via this route.
- Increasing the earning threshold for overseas workers by nearly 50% from its current position of £26,200 to £38,700 from 4 April 2024, encouraging businesses to look to British talent first and invest in their workforce, helping us to deter employers from over-relying on migration, while bringing salaries in line with the average full-time salary for these types of jobs.
- Reforming the Shortage Occupation List into an Immigration Salary List. We will end the 20% going rate salary discount for shortage occupations and we have asked the Migration Advisory Committee – an expert independent panel that advises the Government on immigration policy - to review the composition of the list in line with the increased salary thresholds. This will be included in the Immigration Rules laid on 14 March.
- Raising the minimum income for family visas to £38,700 in line with the minimum salary threshold for the Skilled Worker route to ensure people only bring dependants to the UK they can support financially and will apply to all British and settled sponsors under the five-year partner route. We will raise the minimum income for family visas incrementally in stages, to give predictability to families, starting at £29,000 from 11 April and rising to £38,700 by early 2025.
- We will be asking the MAC to review the graduate route to prevent abuse, protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education and ensure it works in the best interests of the UK.
More information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/home-secretary-underlines-commitment-to-cut-net-migration
How have you calculated the impact of these measures?
- We have published the estimated volumes of reductions in visas expected as a result of these changes. This can be found here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-migration-statement-estimated-immigration-impacts
- Table 1 sets out the estimated impact of inflows if this package of changes had been in place in the year ending September 2023.
- A full Regulatory Impact Assessment will be developed in line with implementation of the new measures.
When will the changes be made?
- The changes will be introduced gradually throughout early 2024. This strikes the right balance between the immediate need to start reducing net migration and giving those affected adequate time to prepare for upcoming changes.
- The changes related to social care (CQC registration and removal of right to bring dependants) will come into force on 11 March.
- Measures relating to Skilled Worker salary thresholds will come into force on 4 April.
- Changes to the family visas will be introduced on 11 April, beginning with raising the threshold to £29,000. It will the been raised to £34,500 and finally £38,700 by early 2025.
- Immigration Rules laid on 14 March will abolish the Shortage Occupation List, remove the 20% going rate discount for occupations, and introduce the new Immigration Salary List to be reviewed by the Migration Advisory Committee. It will be introduced in early April.
Health and care visa route
The reforms will ensure that:
- Providers in England will only be able to sponsor migrant workers if they are undertaking activities regulated by the Care Quality Commission.
- Care worker and senior care worker main applicants will no longer be able to bring dependants.
- This requirement does not apply to other occupations under the Health and Care visa.
Isn’t this going to lead to shortages of care workers?
- Our offer to care workers is extremely competitive internationally. This package means the care workers we need can continue to come to the UK.
- This package will end the exploitation and abuse identified by the Migration Advisory Committee and National Care Association and ensure that those who come to the UK on this route genuinely provide care for those who need it.
- We are not capping carer numbers- we are just restricting which workers can bring dependants.
What are you doing to grow the social care workforce – aren’t there 150,000 vacancies?
- At the same time as introducing this package, we are investing at least £500 million over the next three years (2022/23 to 2024/25) to support our strategy for the social care workforce. And at the Autumn Statement in 2022 we made up to £7.5 billion available over two years to boost capacity in social care.
- The action we have taken means that there is more capacity in the sector this year than last. The workforce grew by 1% and the number of vacancies fell by 7%.
- We know retention is equally as important which is why we are also investing almost £2 billion over two years through the Market Sustainability and Improvement Funds, which will help local councils support the workforce.
- We expect increasing the training of nurses, Allied Health Professionals and nursing associates will go some way to alleviate the pressures in the adult social care sector as some of the people who train in these professions will choose to work in social care when they are qualified.
Will the NHS be impacted by these changes?
- These changes will not affect doctors or nurses. The NHS will continue to have the access it currently enjoys.
How are you going to recruit health and social care workers if you raise the earning threshold on the Skilled Worker route?
- Those coming on the Health and Social Care visa route will be exempted so we can continue to bring the healthcare workers that our care sector and NHS need. We are also exempting education workers who are on national pay scale occupations.
Surely some dependants work – so by banning them you are reducing the amount of working people coming to the UK?
- We estimate that only around 25% of dependants work when they come to the UK.
What happens to care workers and providers who are already here?
- No measures introduced as part of this package will be applied retrospectively.
Until the point the new Immigration Rules come into effect on 11 March:
- Care workers and senior care workers already in the route will be able to remain with their dependants, including extending, changing employer and settlement.
- Where a care worker or senior care worker is in the route before the Rules change, but has not yet brought dependants, they will be allowed to bring dependants during their visa.
- Individuals who are in the UK on any other route, including where that route permits dependants, who switch into the care visa as a care worker or senior care worker after rules change will not be able to bring over dependants.
- Care providers who were sponsoring workers in exclusively non-regulated activities (and therefore not required to be registered with the CQC) before the rules change should be able to continue to sponsor these workers, including for extensions to their visa on those terms, but not hire new ones.
Increasing the Skilled worker Route earnings threshold
- We will increase the earnings thresholds for those arriving on the Skilled Worker route, with the minimum threshold rising by 48% from £26,200 to £38,700 from 4 April.
- Those coming on the Health and Social Care visa route will be exempted so we can continue to bring the healthcare workers that our care sector and NHS need. We are also exempting education workers who are on national pay scale occupations.
Changing the salary threshold will affect hospitality, accommodation, and food services – why are you doing this now?
- Employers will still be able to recruit workers from overseas to these industries, but it is right that we increase the salary threshold to the level of median earnings, to ensure that we do not undercut UK workers, by using cheaper overseas labour and to prevent downwards pressure on wages.
- Beyond the immigration system, is the resident labour market – including UK workers and migrants with general work rights, who can all work without Government restrictions.
What will happen when people come to renew their visas?
- These new policies will not be applied retrospectively and until the Immigration Rules are amended the salary threshold will remain the same.
- Those already in the route before the Rules changes are exempt from the new Skilled Worker salary requirements when they change employer, extend, or settle.
The uplift of the skilled worker salary threshold from £26,200 to £38,700 is significant – won’t that affect a large number of occupations?
- The policy change means we are asking employers to focus on recruiting the brightest and best, those earning within the top half of the earnings spectrum for both their occupation and all skilled occupations.
- Salary discounts for those towards the start of their careers will still exist, but it is right to focus on supporting a high-skilled, high-productivity, high-wage economy.
Why have you not raised the salary threshold to £40,000 or higher?
- The reforms announced on 4 December will deliver the largest ever reduction in net migration and help the Government achieve its aim of getting net migration back down to pre-pandemic levels.
- £38,700 will be in line with the average wage for workers in similar jobs in the UK from the spring of next year. We estimate that further increasing it would make only small reductions in net migration.
Reforming the Shortage Occupation List (SOL)
- We will reform the Shortage Occupation List into an Immigration Salary List (ISL) in early April.
- We will end the 20% going rate salary discount for shortage occupations, as recommended by the independent Migration Advisory Committee.
- We have commissioned the Migration Advisory Committee to advise us on the establishment of a new Immigration Salary List, which will consider whether it should retain the general discount in light of the new salary thresholds.
- The current SOL will remain in place until the new salary thresholds are put in place in early April.
Why are you not completely abolishing the Shortage Occupation List?
- We agree with the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendation to substantially reform the List and we will replace the Shortage Occupation List with a new Immigration Salary List. We will ask the Migration Advisory Committee to review who should be on the list - where there are shortages cannot be filled through UK workers in the short term.
- We will ask the Migration Advisory Committee for an urgent review of the occupations currently on the Shortage Occupation List by April 2024, followed by a thorough and complete review on the List throughout the remainder of 2024.
What is the government doing to ensure that the labour market prioritises UK residents when filling vacancies?
- The Government is encouraging all sectors to adapt and make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, career options, wage increases and to invest in increased automation technology.
Raising the Family Visa Minimum Income to the same threshold as the skilled worker route
- To ensure people only bring dependants they can support financially, we are raising the minimum income for family visas to the same threshold as the minimum salary threshold for Skilled Worker, £38,700.
- We will raise the minimum income for family visas incrementally, in stages, to give predictability to families.
- On 11 April, we will raise the threshold to £29,000, that is the 25th percentile of earnings for skilled jobs, moving to £34,500 (the 40th percentile) and finally £38,700 (the 50th percentile) by early 2025.
- It is sensible that these changes are set out in a sensible and pragmatic way that ensures they work and deliver the reduction in numbers the British people expect.
- There will no longer be a separate child element to the Minimum Income Requirement, to ensure that British nationals are not treated less favourably than migrants who are required to meet the General Skilled Worker threshold, regardless of any children being sponsored.
Why has the Minimum Income Requirement been increased by so much in one jump?
- Family life must not be established here at the taxpayer’s expense and family migrants must be able to integrate if they are to play a full part in British life. The Minimum Income Requirement has not been increased for over a decade and no longer reflects the level of income required by a family to ensure they are self-sufficient and do not need to rely on public funds.
Won’t this mean splitting up families?
- The family Immigration Rules contain a provision for exceptional circumstances where there would be unjustifiably harsh consequences for the applicant, their partner, a relevant child, or another family member if their application were to be refused.
Can the Minimum Income Requirement still be met in various ways?
- Yes, those with savings will still be able to demonstrate they meet the Minimum Income Requirement. This can either be in addition to a lower income or used exclusively.
What will happen when people come to renew their visas?
- These new policies won’t be applied retrospectively and until the immigration rules are amended the minimum income threshold will remain the same.
- We are establishing the specifics of the policy, including how it will apply to those renewing visas, and will confirm more details in due course.
Graduate route review
- We will be asking the MAC to review the graduate route to ensure it works in the best interests of the UK, to prevent abuse and protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education.
Why aren’t you abolishing the graduate route?
- It is right that we continue to allow the best and brightest to come to the UK. Our Manifesto committed to establishing the graduate route. Over 100,000 people last year (YE Sept 2023) were issued visas for the graduate route.
- We have also asked the Migration Advisory Committee to review the graduate route to prevent abuse and protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education.
- It needs to work in the best interests of the UK, supporting the pathway into high quality jobs for global talent but reducing any opportunities for abuse.
When will the MAC begin its review of the graduate route?
- The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will be commissioned to undertake the review of the Graduate Route. We expect their review to run throughout 2024.