UK Immigration Reform

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, announced that it was time to "restore control to our borders", while remaining competitive in attracting the world's best talent. 

He said: "At its heart is a simple message of fairness. Migration is part of Britain’s national story and an essential element of a strong economy. But if people want to come to Britain to start a new life, they must contribute, learn our language and integrate. And if employers want to bring workers from overseas, then they must also invest in the skills of workers already in Britain.

"We know that thousands of British businesses already do this – our strategy will back them. But this White Paper also signals a new era. We will still be competitive in attracting the world’s best talent. At the same time, we will wean our national economy off its reliance on cheap labour from overseas. The end result will be a reformed immigration system that no longer ignores the millions of people who want the opportunity to train and contribute. And that backs our young people with the hope of good, well-paid jobs in their community."

The Immigration team at Fieldfisher has reviewed the White Paper to identify the key changes proposed, including plans to increase the qualifying period for settlement in the UK from 5 years to 10 years, less in some circumstances and where it can be evidenced that a migrant has made a significant contribution to the UK economy and society, through the implementation of an "Earned Settlement" model.

The qualifying period for citizenship will reflect the settlement change and the current Life in the UK test will be reviewed.

With fees increasing substantially earlier in the year, including the Certificate of Sponsorship (Cos) cost, which went from £239 to £525 in April, sponsors must now face an Immigration Skills Charge (ISC) cost. The fee, which is a levy for sponsors and must not be claimed back from a sponsored worker, currently costs £364 for small sponsors and £1,000 for medium to large sponsors. This will increase by 32% under the proposals.

The English language requirements will now apply to dependants of sponsored workers, who were previously exempt from meeting the requirements until submitting an application to settle in the UK, with levels set to increase across the various visa categories - from B1 to B2 of the Common European Framework for Reference for Languages (CEFR) for Skilled Worker and A1 for adult dependants of workers and students, increasing to A2 for settlement.

Other key proposals include the following:

• Increasing the threshold for Skilled Worker visas to graduate level for new entrants to reduce lower skilled migration.
• Abolishing the Immigration Salary List and only allowing a narrow list of critical shortage occupations onto the Temporary Shortage List, alongside workforce strategies to increase training and participation rates in the UK.
• Streamlining and making changes to the Skilled Worker visa, the main sponsored worker category, linking immigration with skills and training.
• Closing the social care visa route to overseas recruitment, with extensions and in-country switches permitted until 2028, and plans to address low and pay conditions in the sector for settled workers.
• Restricting dependants for lower skilled workers on the temporary shortage list and increasing salary thresholds for all visa holders seeking to bring in dependants.
• Increasing the number of migrants entering on the Global Talent and High Potential Individual (HPI) routes and increasing places for research interns, including those working in the field of Artificial Intelligence.
• Reviewing the Innovator Founder visa to ensure it supports entrepreneurial talent among current UK students to build their business and career in the UK.
• Time permitted on the Graduate visa will be reduced from 2 years to 18 months, with proposals to introduce a levy on higher education provider income from international students.
• Plans to reform the family migration routes by the end of the year.
• Strengthen the public interest test when assessing exceptional circumstances, in an attempt to tackle crime and violence against women and girls.

The plans will no doubt trigger further political discussion in the coming weeks and widespread media coverage.

Should you have any questions regarding how this may impact your business or migrant workers, please reach out to Rhona Azir and the immigration team.