UK to tackle massive net migration influx during last couple of years. The country with the policy statement announcement of UKBA has now announced the new immigration rules, especially for students, skilled workers, and family visa applicants.
Key steps the UK has taken to reduce net migration in upcoming months are as follows:
- Overall, the minimum income for family visas will rise to £38,700 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. The UKBA will raise the minimum income for family visas incrementally in stages, to give predictability to families, starting at £29,000 from 11 April and then to £34,500 finally rising to £38,700 by early 2025.
- Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will also be advised 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.
- Overseas care workers will be stopped from bringing family dependants and requiring social care firms in England to undertake Care Quality Commission registered activities to sponsor visas, which will come into force on 11 March.
- New reforms are to be brought for the Shortage Occupation List into an Immigration Salary List. The UKBA will end the 20% going rate salary discount for shortage occupations. The Migration Advisory Committee – with an expert independent panel will also advise 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.
- For skilled worker visas, increase in 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.
Reasons behind new stricter immigration rules
The UK has seen an immense increase in the number of migrants entering the country in 2022 and 2023 not only due to its immigration programs but also due to the people affected by the war and conflicts in Ukraine, Afghanistan, and Hongkong.
Over 100,000 people last year (YE Sept 2023) were issued visas for the graduate route. Alone from the Hong Kong settlement scheme, 80,000 people benefited. On the other hand, the country has also observed an unexpected rise in the dependents of Student and Care worker visa holders. Where alone 120,000 dependants of care workers came to the UK last year. The Care Workers counted to 101,000 of the skilled worker visas. The other immigration category has also seen an immense rise for the same applicants. Due to these immense numbers, the Prime Minister and Home Secretary announced a plan to slash migration levels and curb abuse of the immigration system. This means 300,000 fewer people would be able to come to the UK. According to the statistics available, only 25% of dependants work in the UK when they join their primary applicant in the UK.
As cited on the UKBA official website, the immense increase in the salary threshold is because:
“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”.
Relaxations to the previously in the route
Many relaxations have also been announced even along the stricter new rules which are as follows:
- Care workers and senior care workers already in the route before the rules change will be able to remain with their dependants, including extending, changing employer, and settlement. If they have not yet brought dependants, they will be allowed to bring dependants during their visa.
- The 48% increase from £26,200 to £38,700 from 4 April for the skilled worker visa route will not be implemented on Care and Education workers as they will enjoy the same salary threshold as set before.
- 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.
- These new policies will not be applied retrospectively and until the Immigration Rules are amended the salary threshold will remain the same.
- No new measures will be applied retrospectively to the immigrants already on the route.
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.
Expert Opinion
Immigration expert “Umer Rasib” said these changes will affect the UK net migration to some extent in 2024. The new changes will highly impact low-salary network workers (real and professional) such as chefs and butchers who normally earn less than 30,000 Pounds annually. They might be facing too much difficulty in getting a “job” offering them more than 38,000 GBP annually, he further added.
The dependent visa system has made the most of the net migration numbers where the UK issued 120,000 carer dependent visas alone last year. This is an immense number in a year. The same is true for the Student dependants. According to the statistics available, only 25% of dependants work in the UK when they join their primary applicant in the UK. These numbers are insane. This means other than children, many of the dependents are sitting at home and enjoying social benefits from taxpayer’s money.
The UK should have tackled this issue earlier than this, added Rasib. The loophole carers and students used to bring their dependents to the UK were immense and the Government could not standardly establish the genuine intention of the visa applicant. In the fields of Chefs, Carers, Shopkeepers, and Construction workers, too many visas were issued without having to check if the professionals applying for these visas were eligible to do their duties. No authorized certification was checked for these categories and more than 80% of the category mentioned above applicants were never in the field of occupation they got the visa for. They paid the price for the job contract, got the Certificate of Sponsorship from their employer, and enjoyed the 5-year duration visa in the UK.
The people will continue this practice to some extent, even if they are not specialized in their chosen occupation by paying the employers to get the work contract (even whatever the required salary threshold is) to apply for the skilled worker visa. These loopholes in the immigration system stop the immensely qualified and professionally groomed skilled workers from staying behind as they cannot pay the money to get the work contract from a UK employer. The UK must also take action against such employers who are running small businesses and companies and owners of which have mostly the background of foreigners.