On 4 December 2023 the UK Government announced a \u2018five point plan\u2019 to lower net migration, following on from recent high net migration figures. These include raising the general threshold for Skilled Worker visas, abolishing the salary discount for shortage occupation roles and prohibiting care workers from bringing dependants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Government anticipates this plan will build on previously announced restrictions on Student dependants as well as application fee and immigration health surcharge rises. The overall predicted fall in net migration is estimated at 300,000 people per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The main reforms included in the announcement are outlined below and are expected to be implemented in Spring 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inclusion of carers amongst the occupations eligible under the Health and Care visa was intended to be a temporary post-pandemic measure. However, continuing underinvestment in the sector and an aging population mean that this occupation is likely to remain included in at least the short to medium-term. The Home Office will be monitoring this occupation closely following the high levels of use and evidence of worker exploitation since it was included on the shortage occupation list early last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two main announcements have been made for this route:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first change is aimed at stopping bogus care home businesses from sponsoring care workers, following evidence of abuse of the sponsorship regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second change creates an exception to the ability of workers in settlement routes to be accompanied by their families. It is likely to prove controversial. The low pay that carers receive means that those with families will remain separated from them even after the worker settles. This is because they are unlikely to be able to meet the increased family route minimum income threshold announced as point 4 of the new plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The general salary threshold for sponsoring a Skilled Worker will be raised from \u00a326,200 to \u00a338,700. This is above the current gross median earnings for full-time employees in the UK, which is \u00a334,963. It is also an increase of almost 50% above the current threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Health and Care visas and occupations on national pay scales (e.g. teachers) will be \u2018exempt\u2019 from this increase, however it is not yet clear whether the current threshold of \u00a320,960 will remain in place or be lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The impact of such a substantial increase to the general salary threshold is that only very senior members of many medium-skilled occupations (at Levels 3 to 5 of the Regulated Qualifications Framework) will continue to qualify, and some occupations will be priced out. This is because the new threshold corresponds to the median income for all skilled roles. It may also be above the upper end of the range for some skilled occupations, including in construction, retail, hospitality, food production and food processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 20% salary discount for individuals sponsored under shortage occupation roles will be abolished. This announcement has been expected, following on from the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC\u2019s) review of the shortage occupation list in October 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The MAC has also been asked to further advise the Home Office on creating a new Immigration Salary List with fewer occupations than at present. This list will have a discounted general salary threshold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement also confirms that the main minimum income requirement for sponsoring partners under Appendix FM will rise from \u00a318,600 to \u00a329,000 in spring 2024 and eventually to \u00a338,700 in 2025. The additional income requirement to sponsor children is yet to be clarified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Home Office will commission the MAC to consider policy options for reforming the Graduate visa route so that it better supports a pathway into high quality jobs for graduates and to \u2018prevent abuse\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The five-point plan aligns with the immigration announcements in the Chancellor\u2019s Autumn statement, which focuses on facilitating types of migration that are less likely to add to net migration figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Aside from visitor changes arising from trade deals (which will appear as these deals are made effective), the reforms mentioned in the Autumn statement are due to be in place from January 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you have any specific questions you would like advice on or if you would like information about workplace training on harassment, then please contact: Abi.Frederick@lewissilkin.com<\/a> of Lewis Silkin LLP or koichiro_nakada@btinternet.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On 4 December 2023 the UK Government ann…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2457,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[112,1936,1944,756,1937,1945,1356,1938,1946,1931,1939,1947,1932,1940,1948,1933,1941,1934,1942,19,1935,1943],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/202401-legal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4248,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449\/revisions\/4248"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.centrepeople.com\/jp\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}