UK immigration update: what a new government means for business and family routes
ross@vanessaganguin.com +44 (0) 20 4551 4897 +44 (0) 7894 790890 |
ross@vanessaganguin.com +44 (0) 20 4551 4897 +44 (0) 7894 790890 |
7 August 2024
Immigration has been a hot topic in the run up to Britain’s general election, even more so now. So what developments are we likely to see from the new Labour government for business and family immigration routes to the United Kingdom?
The UK’s new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper recently gave a speech outlining some of the Labour government’s intentions – especially for family immigration and work immigration. Vanessa Ganguin Immigration law’s Senior Client Manager Ross Kennedy provides some insight for employers, employees and their family members on what we know so far about upcoming UK immigration developments.
Sponsoring Skilled Workers
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper delivered a statement to the House of Commons which promised to keep most of the last government’s five-point plan to reduce UK immigration.
The last government restricted the ability of staff sponsored on care worker and senior care worker visas to bring dependants with them and required all care providers sponsoring immigrant staff to register with the Care Quality Commission.
The general salary threshold those arriving on Skilled Worker visas must be paid rose by 48% from £26,200 gross to £38,700 per year. On top of that the minimum hourly rate rose from £10.75 to £15.88 per hour and crucially the minimum going rate for Skilled Workers rose sharply. Since April it is based on the median wage for an occupation, rather than above the bottom 25%.
Also the Shortage Occupation List for employers filling UK skills shortages was abolished, along with the 20% going rate discount, so that employers can no longer pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations.
So, for example, programmers and software developers were on the list due to a current skills shortage. From 4 April the new minimum going rate they must be paid to sponsor them on a Skilled Worker visa has no more 20% discount and is based on the median wage for the occupation according to Office of National Statistics data – £49,400 – up from £27,200 (based on a 37.5-hour week).
The Home Secretary told parliament the Labour government is not planning to change such Conservative immigration measures.
Employers still have a few categories of Skilled Worker that can be sponsored on salaries lower than most. These include occupations that qualify for the Immigration Salary List, New Entrants, hires with relevant PhD’s and health and care workers. There are also other alternatives to the Skilled Worker route that may work out more affordable, such as the Scale Up visa, Global Talent visas, High Potential Individual and Global Business Mobility visas.
If you would like to discuss any of these options or how recent UK immigration changes may affect your choices, please contact us on 0207 033 9527 or ross@vanessaganguin.com. Or you can find more about alternative work visa routes here.
Sponsor licence compliance
Labour’s general election manifesto promised measures to revoke the sponsor licence of employers who “abuse the visa system” or breach employment law, barring them from hiring workers from abroad.
This is unlikely to entail major changes as sponsor compliance obligations already include requirements to ensure employers comply with wider UK law, don’t behave in a manner not conducive to the public good or abuse the work visa system. There has recently been a sharp rise in enforcement actions: 309 Skilled Worker sponsor licences suspended, 210 revoked in the first quarter of this year. The new Home Secretary has announced a blitz of immigration raids will take place over the summer, indicating a move towards increased enforcement. To keep their licences employers should ensure they follow the latest Home Office’s guidance on licence compliance and management and that they keep up to date with changes. If in doubt, employers should seek advice and a regular audit of compliance systems never hurt.
Graduate visas and the Youth Mobility Scheme
The Graduate visa and Youth Mobility Scheme are two useful work visas that do not require an employer to sponsor a migrant worker. The Graduate visa allows international students in the UK to work for themselves or another employer for two years after they finish a degree in a qualifying university (three years for PhDs). The last government commissioned a review of this visa amid pressure to restrict the route, but the review strongly recommended keeping it and there are no indications that the new Labour government plan to interfere with this immigration option. Though the Home Secretary confirmed that Labour will continue the previous government’s measures to tackle instances of mis-selling of British university courses by recruitment agents.
The Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) is a reciprocal agreement that allows youth aged 18-30 (or 35 for Canadians, Australians, New Zealanders and South Koreans now) to live and work in the UK for up to two years and vice versa (three years for Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders). Under the previous government the YMS opened to new countries and expanded in scope during free trade deal negotiations with individual countries. Though like the previous government, Labour has not expressed any intention to expand the agreement to include the whole of the European Union.
Unfortunately, such a reciprocal cultural exchange between the UK and USA has never been on the cards to my knowledge. However some American graduates qualify for the High Potential Individual (HPI) route for those who have graduated from the top 40 or so universities that aren’t in the UK in the past five years. Those on the HPI route can stay and work unsponsored in the UK for up to two years (three years for PhD’s) – and over half of the qualifying universities are in the USA.
Family visas
The minimum income requirement for British and resident people to sponsor a partner on a family visa leapt up under the previous government from £18,600 to £29,000 for applications made on or after 11 April 2024. The previous Home Secretary James Cleverly announced further rises in the Autumn to £34,500 and then up to at least £38,700 in Spring 2025. £38,700 would have put the minimum income threshold out of reach of 70% of British workers so the new Home Secretary has announced that the level will now remain at £29,000 while the Migration Advisory Committee reviews the financial requirements in the family immigration rules.
The future of business immigration
King Charles unveiled a “Skills England Bill” in his speech introducing the main primary legislation agenda for Labour’s first session in power after a 14-year hiatus. Skills England, Labour’s general election manifesto explained, would be a body which would “formally work with the Migration Advisory Committee to make sure training in England accounts for the overall needs of the labour market.” The manifesto promised “linking immigration and skills policy” and ending “long-term reliance on overseas workers.” How this would work in practice remains to be seen, but Labour’s election manifesto promise to “reform the points-based immigration system” is unlikely to entail any major changes in this session of parliament. The only real immigration measures the King mentioned for Labour’s first year in power involved boosting border security and resuming processing asylum claims.
The Skills England Bill appears to be a key element of how Labour intends to reduce the need to hire foreign workers, as well as address skills shortage in certain sectors of the UK economy in the long term. But skills and training policies will take years to come into fruition, with the new statutory Skills England body set up over this first year. In the meantime, many UK sectors from tech and engineering to health and hospitality will all still require skill sets from abroad and unlike the previous government’s plans, there are no actual caps on work immigration in the pipeline.