Vanessa Ganguin outlines July work visa changes for HR Magazine

7 July 2025

The Home Office has published a Statement of Changes of the Immigration Rules outlining major developments to the Skilled Worker visa which come into force on 22 July 2025.

The raft of measures in the Statement of Changes reduce work immigration for less skilled roles and prioritise training British workforce for such jobs. These are the first in a series of changes over this parliament trailed in an Immigration White Paper in May which we outlined here.

You can find our full analysis of this first tranche of changes for work visas which are implemented on 22 July here.

“The UK government hasn’t wasted any time implementing the first measures in its immigration white paper, which aims to stop employers recruiting lesser skilled roles from abroad and focus on upskilling the UK workforce,” Vanessa writes in an explainer of these changes for HR Magazine.

“This week’s statement of changes to the immigration regulations contains the first of many white paper changes that affect who employers can hire, on what salary and how long they may need to be sponsored for. This week’s opening salvo, effective from 22 July, raises skills and salary thresholds for sponsoring overseas workers and ends immigration routes for care workers and over 100 other occupations.”

The most major reform is the raising of the minimum skills threshold to sponsor workers on Britain’s main post-Brexit work visa, the Skilled Worker visa, from Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) Level 3 (the equivalent of A-level or school-leaver) to RQF6 (degree level in skill rather than educational attainment). This means 111 occupations can no longer be sponsored from abroad on a new Skilled Worker visas as they are no longer deemed skilled enough.

Those already on Skilled Worker visas before 22 July 2025 may still switch sponsor, renew their visa and carry out supplementary employment all at RQF3 and above, according to the rules in place prior to 2 July.

Otherwise, there is a temporary fix for some RQF3+ roles in a new interim Temporary Shortage List which the Department for Business and Trade and His Majesty’s Treasury has compiled of jobs that are needed for the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The Temporary Shortage List and the Immigration Salary List – which will eventually be phased out – are both to be reviewed over the next 12 months, along with minimum salary thresholds.

If you are concerned about any of these changes and how they may affect you or your hiring policies, please contact Vanessa on +44 (0) 20 4551 4787 or vanessa@vanessaganguin.com. Alternatively, if you would like to discuss any UK immigration issues you can fill in the contact form below and we will be in touch soon.