The UK Government’s Immigration White Paper, unveiled this month, will have major consequences for employers in all sectors of the UK economy. It is a blueprint for measures to incentivise employers to invest in training local workers rather than relying on lesser skilled labour from overseas. It sets out more measures to reduce work and student immigration, despite net migration falling steeply from the post-pandemic spike which peaked in 2023.
Most of the measures summarised below will not require primary legislation in parliament and no timings have yet been announced however the Government says that some changes will be implemented “within weeks.” We expect most of these changes will be subject to months of consultations. The Government says it will consider input from the relevant national and regional departments as well as sectors affected.
While a White Paper is a policy document and not enacted in the UK’s Immigration Rules, it signals the Government’s intentions and lays the groundwork for these changes. Employers must understand the implications to their business plans of these reforms which aim to reduce net migration, link immigration more closely to domestic skills and training, lengthen the time it takes to settle in the UK and strengthen enforcement.
These are the key proposals in the Immigration White Paper organisations should be aware of:
- ending sponsorship of new care workers from overseas;
- raising minimum skill level to sponsor Skilled Workers to RQF6 (degree level in skill rather than educational attainment);
- raising minimum salary thresholds;
- Temporary Shortage List replaces the Immigration Salary List for temporary sponsorship of key lower-skilled shortage jobs;
- raising minimum levels for English language ability;
- increasing the annual immigration skills charge by 32%;
- doubling the time it takes to qualify to settle permanently to ten years;
- shortening the Graduate visa to 18 months; and
- facilitating highly skilled immigration, using routes such as Global Talent, High Potential Individual and Innovator Founder.
Ending sponsorship of new care workers from overseas
The social care sector has been hit the hardest by these immigration reforms. After a post-pandemic period in which they made up a large part of all work immigration to the UK, care workers and senior care workers will no longer be able to be sponsored from abroad this year. There will be a transition period until 2028 for visa extensions and in-country switching for those already in the country on these routes, to be kept under review.
Care sector employers will be hoping public funding may bolster the sector along with measures to improve pay and conditions in the current Employment Rights Bill. Providers are very concerned about skill shortages which by later this year will only be filled by hiring resident workers or from a pool of an estimated 30,000 people currently in the UK on such visas but without a sponsor.
Raising minimum skill level to sponsor Skilled Workers to RQF6
The Skilled Worker visa is the UK’s main work visa and currently allows employers to sponsor immigrant workers in select occupation codes which are deemed to have skillsets from Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) Level 3 (A-level equivalent) to RQF Level 6 (degree-level – in skills, rather than educational attainment) and above. The White Paper criticises the previous Government for setting the skill level so low and sets out plans to only allow Skilled Workers at RQF Level 6 and above to be sponsored.
We have calculated that this will mean 171 occupation codes that organisations can currently sponsor as Skilled Workers will be hit. Most of the jobs deemed not skilled enough are in hospitality, retail, construction and creative industries – but a major swathe of professions will be affected. For example, scientists and engineers will still be able to obtain Skilled Worker visas, but not lab or engineering technicians; managers in manufacturing, construction and energy are deemed skilled enough, but not managers in retail, hospitality, healthcare or logistics; you will be able to sponsor business development managers, but not sales executives or associates. A Technical Annex that accompanies the White Paper estimates 23% fewer Skilled Worker visas – this translates to 17,000 fewer applicants.
There will be a transitional provision for those already on the Skilled Worker route in these jobs which allows them to extend their visa, change employment and take supplementary employment including in occupations below RQF6. However, applicants from overseas, or those applying to switch from other immigration routes, will have to follow the new rules.
Raising minimum salary thresholds
Skilled Workers must be paid whichever is the highest of the minimum salary threshold for the route, the going rate for the occupation or a minimum hourly wage. The previous Government raised going rates as well as setting a minimum salary threshold based to the median of all Skilled Worker occupations of £38,700. If all the lowest skilled roles are no longer available, the new median figure would be much higher. The White Paper warns the minimum salary threshold for the route will be raised.
The Government will commission a review of salary requirements “to ensure that international recruitment is never a cheap alternative to fair pay.” This will include a review of minimum salary discounts – these are currently available when recruiting immigrants who may be new entrants to the workforce or have a PhD for instance.
The White Paper also threatens to increase salary thresholds for all visa holders seeking to bring dependant family to the UK. The minimum income requirement for British and resident people to sponsor a partner on a family visa leapt up from £18,600 to £29,000 for applications made on or after 11 April 2024. The Migration Advisory Committee is reviewing the level and is set to report this year. They may also be asked to review minimum incomes for those on work visas to bring loved ones to the UK.
Temporary Shortage List replaces the Immigration Salary List for temporary sponsorship of key lower-skilled shortage jobs
For some occupations with a skills requirement of RQF3-5, there may be a temporary reprieve in the form of a new Temporary Shortage List for sectors where “there have been long term shortages” – “temporary,” nonetheless as the Government will only permit sectors to employ at this skill level “on a time limited basis where the Migration Advisory Committee has advised it is justified, where there is a workforce strategy in place, and where employers seeking to recruit from abroad are committed to playing their part in increasing recruitment from the domestic workforce.” Skills and training strategies will be expected to eventually fill such gaps in the labour market with resident workers.
Migrant workers sponsored on the Temporary Shortage List will have “restrictions on bringing dependants”. This will deter many applicants off as evidenced by the fall in international students and care workers when dependent family were prohibited from joining them on their visas. According to the White Paper, these visas will be temporary so time spent on them may not count towards settlement.
The Temporary Shortage List replaces the rather short-lived Immigration Salary List, which only replaced the Shortage Occupation List in April 2024. Whether there will be any minimum salary discounts like in its predecessors remains to be seen. The White Paper warns that only “a narrow list of critical shortage occupations” will qualify.
Sectors will only be potentially added to the Temporary Shortage list if they are deemed by the Migration Advisory Committee to be key to the UK’s industrial strategy or delivering critical infrastructure.
That may appear to exclude many professions that will no longer qualify for the Skilled Worker visa such as Chefs, Musicians, Fashion Designers, Artists, Publicans and Bakers.
There will be lengthy consultations this year, so we would advise sectors to build evidenced-based cases for inclusion on the Temporary Shortage List, as well as the workforce strategies towards less reliance on workers from abroad that will be needed to be added to the new list.
In the interim, the Temporary Shortage List will contain occupations that the Committee has recently considered to be in shortage, or which are crucial to the delivery of the UK’s Industrial Strategy. In an early indication, the Home Secretary gave one example in the House of Commons: “construction workers will be on the temporary shortage list because they are clearly crucial to growth in our economy. However, that has to happen alongside respect for the workforce strategy, which is why the Education Secretary has set out proposals to train 60,000 more construction workers here in the UK.” This offers some reassurance to the construction industry as a great many of the jobs on the list above are in building and associated trades.
Raising minimum levels for English language ability
The English language proficiency requirement for Skilled Workers and the majority of immigration routes will be raised from B1 (‘intermediate user’) to B2 (‘independent user’) level under the Common European Framework for Reference for Languages.
Adult visa dependants, who hitherto did not need to demonstrate English language ability, will now be required to have basic English proficiency (A1 level). The White Paper says that this is aimed at easing integration into local communities and that there will be further assessments over time. An improvement in English to A2 level would be required for a visa extension and B2 will be a requirement for settlement applications for most immigration routes.
Increasing the annual immigration skills charge
The immigration skills charge is a bugbear of many UK employers sponsoring migrants for Skilled Worker or Global Business Mobility visas. Small businesses and charities pay £364 per sponsored worker per year of their visa. Larger sponsors pay £1,000 per year. These sums will rise by 32%. The charge is meant to be a levy from sponsors towards training the local workforce, but despite many enquiries, we have never seen transparency over where the money raised goes. The White Paper says the new increased charges will go towards upskilling the domestic workforce in priority sectors and reducing reliance on migration over the medium term.
Doubling the time it takes to qualify to settle permanently to ten years
One of the most controversial measures is to double the five-year route to settlement of long-term visas to ten years. This would make the UK an outlier in the developed world. It takes another year on top to become a British citizen, so the whole journey to citizenship will take many immigrants 11 years.
Many in the UK currently on five-year routes to settlement seek confirmation that this change will not operate retrospectively so that they too face this longer expensive path to settlement. Unfortunately, we can offer no such assurance and ministers have only ruled out those currently in the UK on five-year family visa routes as dependants of British citizens from having a longer journey to indefinite leave to remain. Existing settlement rights for victims of domestic violence and abuse will be protected too, the White Paper suggests.
People with post-Brexit residence rights under the EU Settlement Scheme have the right to permanent residence after five years under Article 15 of the UK-EU Withdrawal Agreement.
The White Paper insists others will have to contribute for longer to “earn settlement,” though there will be paths for those that contribute more to society to “earn” settlement and citizenship in shorter time frames. Examples the Government has mentioned include medics, innovators and scientists.
The White Paper mentions a “points-based” system to calculate contributions to earn settlement. These changes will require lengthy consultations. The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said further details will be made public later this year.
Employers will not only be concerned about reassuring current migrant workers and whether this measure will deter some prospective employees from abroad. This will also means doubling the cost of sponsoring a Skilled Worker who can currently apply for indefinite leave after five years. For some employees this will mean double the visa and sponsorship certificate fees, double the immigration health surcharge which in most cases adds £1,035 per year to the cost of a UK visa as well as an extra five years of immigration skills charge (set to rise by 32%).
These changes will come on top of new rules which mean severe penalties for sponsors that pass immigration costs onto employees.
Shortening the Graduate visa to 18 months
According to the White Paper, the Graduate visa will be shortened from two years (or three years currently for PhD level students) to 18 months. The Government argues that this six-month reduction will decrease student visas for those who see it as a means to enter the labour market instead of genuine study, as well as ensure that Graduate visa holders work in graduate roles.
The shorter duration is designed to move graduates into other visa routes, such as Skilled Worker more quickly.
Facilitating highly skilled immigration
In a few measures not calculated to reduce immigration, the White Paper proposes more workers arrive on very high talent routes. There is a promise of “faster routes for bringing people to the UK who have the right skills and experience to supercharge UK growth in strategic industries.” This includes tinkering with the following current immigration routes.
An increase in research intern places is promised to help businesses access promising young talent.
A review of the flawed Innovator Founder immigration route is promised to ensure that it supports entrepreneurial international students seeking to stay in the UK while working on innovative business ideas.
There is a promise to facilitate Global Talent applications from “top scientific and design talent”.
The paper mentions doubling the number of workers that an overseas business can send to the UK with the aim of establishing a presence in the UK – this is good news for the Expansion Worker route we advise on for organisations expanding into the UK.
The High Potential Individual visa currently allows graduates of the top 40 or so universities in the world to work in the UK for two years (three for postgrads). The Government will explore a “capped expansion” of the route, looking to double the number of qualifying higher education institutions.
What should employers do to prepare for the changes trailed in the Immigration White Paper?
Given the breadth and depth of these proposed changes, proactive preparation is crucial for employers. Waiting until changes are formally enacted could leave businesses vulnerable to significant disruption. We do not anticipate the changes mentioned above to require votes in parliament, but some will involve consultations and Immigration Rules Changes are usually preceded by a Statement of Changes to parliament, which will normally (but not always) give at least 21 days’ notice. In the meantime, organisations may want to consider preparing the following strategies.
- Employers should seek to reassure, where possible, current migrant workers. Those already here as Skilled Workers on RQF3-5 level skilled jobs will be able to renew their visa and switch into other jobs as Skilled Workers and take supplementary employment including in occupations below RQF6. This will continue even when sponsors may no longer sponsor Skilled Workers from abroad who are not in roles that are at RQF6 and above in skill level.
- It may be a while before we can reassure migrant staff already here about whether they too face a longer route to settlement. For now, we think those on the EU Settlement Scheme and on partner visas of British citizens will not be affected by the change.
- Recruitment directors should reevaluate hiring strategies, including taking stock of the skill level of roles they currently anticipate sponsoring. Those under the new RQF6 skill level may no longer qualify for sponsoring unless they are on the Temporary Shortage List.
- Businesses should consider budgeting for higher sponsorship costs and minimum salary thresholds for Skilled Workers.
- Organisations with immediate recruitment needs for roles that may be impacted by the changes should consider bringing forward visa applications where possible under current rules. The Home Office is likely to anticipate a surge of applications for Skilled Worker jobs deemed too low-skilled and there are likely to be delays. It would therefore be prudent for sponsors to swiftly ensure a sufficient allocation of sponsorship certificates for lower skilled roles that will come off the Skilled Worker route. Bear in mind that the Home Office will want to see specific details of the planned sponsorships and would not want to see speculative allocation requests.
- In some cases, it may be appropriate to seek immigration advice on other work or personal immigration routes that prospective employees no longer qualifying for Skilled Worker sponsorship may use.
- With costs rising, it may pay to consider sponsoring international students as Skilled Workers, rather than hiring them on a Graduate visa, as unlike Graduate visa holders, students switching straight to Skilled Worker visas are exempt from the immigration skills charge for the duration of their sponsorship in the same role and for the same employer. This saves thousands of pounds.
- We recommend organisations liaise with their sectoral bodies, lobby for occupations to be given a reprieve in the Temporary Shortage List and help put together the workforce strategies necessary to protect themselves and their sectors.
- Compliance with the ever-changing UK immigration rules will be more important than ever, as the White Paper mentions innovative penalties and sanctions for organisations failing on compliance with sponsor duties and visa conditions. We can assist with audits and advise on sponsorship and right to work compliance.
- Employers may wish to consult with immigration experts to stay abreast of these legislative developments, on interpretations of new rules, specific implications for their businesses and to ensure they remain compliant throughout these major reforms.
Please do not hesitate to contact Vanessa Ganguin to discuss any of the changes detailed above, or general queries relating to work visas, right to work or sponsor compliance.
