Yesterday, the Home Secretary announced plans which amount to one of the most substantial proposals in years to cut migration levels through the tightening of UK immigration rules. Popular visa routes like the skilled worker visa, health and care worker visas, as well as family visas are all affected.
Those who wish to come to the UK to work will now need to have an offer from an employer that is paying a salary of £38,700 per year. This will be the minimum requirement for anyone who wishes to apply for a skilled worker visa or a care worker visa. Presently, the minimum requirement is that you must be offered employment earning at least £26,200 per year or £10.75 per hour.
The UK government will be increasing the income requirement required for British or settled people who wish to sponsor family members from abroad. Presently, the income requirement is that a person who wishes to sponsor their partner needs to earn £18,600 per year. This has been the set limit for a substantive number of years. This will now be increased to £38,700, which amounts to an increase of 108% and more than double what is presently required.
Those who come to the UK on a health and care visa to work in the health and care section will no longer be able to bring dependants with them to the UK. This change will no doubt lead to a huge reduction in staff joining the UK health and care sector, with applicants not being able to bring their loved likely to be a huge deterrent. In the year ending September 2023, 101,000 visas were issued to care workers. With an estimated 120,000 visas granted to dependants of those care workers.
Finally, the government has also announced big changes to the shortage occupation list. This is a list of jobs that the UK have a shortfall in presently that enables the applicant to obtain a skilled worker visa with a 20% reduction of the salary requirement. The Home Secretary has announced that this reduction will end.
The above announcement is scheduled to take place in Spring 2024. We are still awaiting further information as to what will happen to those who are on the above routes presently, when applying for extension applications. Follow our social media platforms for further updates.
Have questions? Get in touch today!
Call us on 020 7928 0276, phone calls are operating as usual and will be taking calls from 9:30am to 6:00pm.
Email us on info@lisaslaw.co.uk.
Use the Ask Lisa function on our website. Simply enter your details and leave a message, we will get right back to you: https://lisaslaw.co.uk/ask-question/
For more updates, follow us on our social media platforms! You can find them all on our Linktree right here.