The government will ‘radically reform’ the UK’s immigration system under new measures proposed in today’s immigration white paper.
Strict controls on overseas recruitment and demands on employers to train domestic workers will overhaul the “chaotic” immigration system that Labour says it inherited when it came into power last summer.
Under the new proposed rules, migrant workers would have to live in the UK for double the time they do currently before they could apply for citizenship. This will rise to 10 years from five, although there would be exceptions for people who make a “high contribution” to society.
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There will also be new English language requirements for every visa route, which will also extend to adult dependents for the first time.
Launching the immigration white paper, prime minister Keir Starmer said the rules would ensure a “clean break” from the “chaotic” system the Labour party assumed from the previous government.
Employers seeking visas to employ international workers will need to show they are investing in British workers and upskilling UK talent.
The new system will make immigration “controlled, selective and fair”, he added, promising that migration would fall “significantly”.
“I’m doing it because it’s right, it’s fair, and what I believe in,” Starmer said, adding that the immigration system in place was “almost designed to commit abuse”, and encouraged employers to seek out low-paid workers rather than investing in local young people.
Net migration hit 728,000 in the year to June 2024. This was lower than the previous year, when it reached a record of 906,000.
Some of this drop can be attributed to measures brought in under the Conservative government, including changes to student and dependant visas.
The skilled visa threshold will be raised to graduate level, to reduce the numbers of lower-skilled workers coming into the UK. Salary thresholds will “reflect” the higher skill level, the government said.
For occupations below graduate level, access to the immigration system will be “strictly time limited”, and will be granted based on strong evidence of skills shortages in areas that are “critical to the industrial strategy”.
The paper also reveals that a Labour Market Evidence Group (LMEG) will be established to scrutinise areas that rely on overseas labour and to support them to invest in domestic skills.
The LMEG will be made up of representatives from the Industrial Strategy Council, the Department for Work and Pensions, skills bodies and the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).
Last year the government announced that MAC would provide a yearly assessment to ministers of sectors where there had been surges in overseas recruitment, with sectors encouraged to work with Skills England to outline ways to boost domestic skills in these areas.
Care sector blow
One of the most radical measures proposed by the government is to close the international visa route for care workers, a sector that relies heavily on overseas staff.
Latest official estimates suggest that there were 131,000 vacancies in social care in England last year. Professor Martin Green, chief executive of Care England, described the government announcement as a “crushing blow to an already fragile sector”.
“For years, the sector has been propping itself up with dwindling resources, rising costs, and mounting vacancies. International recruitment wasn’t a silver bullet, but it was a lifeline.
“Taking it away now, with no warning, no funding, and no alternative, is not just short-sighted – it’s cruel,” he said.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said that overseas care workers often found themselves subject to “shameful levels of abuse and exploitation”, and 470 care providers had had their immigration sponsor licence revoked since 2022.
International workers who are already sponsored to work legally in the sector will be able to extend their stay, change sponsors and apply to settle, including those who need to switch employers following a sponsor licence revocation, however.
Speaking to the BBC yesterday, Cooper added that there would be temporary shortage lists for some industries, such as construction, allowing workers to be recruited from abroad.
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