1. Pretty much all the messaging is nothing new – requiring businesses to train resident labour rather than import talent, for example, is a mantra we've become used to over many years.
2. Criticism of the previous government for allowing immigration to spiral out of control is an easy hit; the reason for it, the UK's withdrawal from the EU, is only mentioned in passing.
3. Recognition of the regional imbalance in immigration comes in the form of the Devolved Governments making up an important part of the proposed Labour Market Evidence Group (LMEG), which will in much the same way as the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) does now assess evidence of sectoral labour shortages. The LMEG will include the MAC.
4. The Immigration Salary List (ISL) is set to be replaced by a Temporary Shortage List (TSL), which as its name suggests will address short-term labour issues, with no expectation of workers under it being allowed to stay there. The MAC will be asked to undertake a thorough review of salary requirements, including discounts, to ensure that international recruitment is never a cheap alternative to fair pay.
5. Overseas recruitment of care workers will end, with transitional arrangements in place until 2028; this is an easy win for the government, but will be a concern for care providers. The repeated accusation that unscrupulous care sector employers undercut wages and exploit staff is not referenced in the White Paper. In fact, care providers generally pay at or just above national minimum wage; it's not possible to undercut that. It is hard to understand the argument that foreign workers contribute to the low-pay problem in the sector, which is in fact driven by cash-strapped local authorities awarding contracts which are only viable when staff are paid NMW.
6. The government intends to introduce “requirements for workforce strategies” – employers “will be expected to boost domestic talent and skills if they want to recruit from abroad and we will explore new options to incentivise and invest in training and restrict employers who are not committed to increasing skills or following the workforce strategy from sponsoring skilled visas.” This appears to mean employers looking to sponsor overseas staff, or become licensed to do so, will have to build this information into their dCoS or licence applications?
7. Guidance is set to be strengthened in an effort to encourage “effective and responsible sponsors”. The government will explore making it easier for workers to transfer employers, reducing the risk of exploitation. Sponsors of domestic workers can also expect changes to this visa route.
8. There is a headline rise in the minimum skill level for Skilled Workers, from RQF3 to RQF6, broadly degree-level, and “salary thresholds will rise”. Where does this leave sponsorship of time-served tradespeople, for example, many of whose occupations are currently on the ISL and therefore benefit from lower entry salaries? The answer appears to be through the use of the TSL, where occupations at RQF3-5 where there have been long-term shortages will allow used of Skilled Worker visas on a time-limited basis only, and where the MAC advises “it is justified, there is a workforce strategy in place, and where employers recruiting from abroad are committed to playing their part in domestic recruitment.”
9. This appears to place a burden on industry bodies as well as individual employers, who will need to demonstrate to MAC:
- “How far the workforce strategy is underpinned by a skills strategy
- How far it is underpinned by a commitment to work with the Department for Work and Pensions on a domestic labour strategy
- How the sector will manage the risk of exploitation of workers, particularly migrant workers in the sector and
- Whether the strategy is sufficiently ambitious”
10. MAC will assess these factors before making recommendations to government about access to the TSL, potentially bespoke visa conditions, time limits, caps on numbers and (as is currently the case with care workers) restrictions on bringing dependent family members. So, partly innovative, partly a return to the old days of numerical visa limits. The White Paper recognises that the TSL will take time to set up, so is initially likely to reflect the current ISL, meaning trades remain eligible for sponsorship for the time being at least.
11. It is not only RQF3-5 occupations in the firing line: the TSL will in time take a look at all sectors with “over-reliance on international workers”.
12. Transitional arrangements confirm that those already in sponsored employment will continue to enjoy their current salary rates when renewing visas or switching jobs, and will still be able to take supplementary employment.
13. While there is no commitment to allowing asylum-seekers full access to the labour market, the government “will explore reforms to allow a limited pool of UNHCR recognised refugees and displaced people living overseas to apply for employment through our existing sponsored worker routes where they have the skills to do so.”
14. The Immigration Skills Charge, payable by employers when sponsoring Skilled Workers, will be increased by 32%, giving figures of £1320 / £428 per year of sponsorship in future, adding to the already high cost of bringing in overseas workers.
15. Changes to Global Talent rules will, the government hopes, encourage an increase in applications from the very highly-skilled. Better access to UKRI-approved programmes for those at the start of their careers may go some way to achieving this. The government will also review the High Potential Individual route, potentially opening it up to graduates from double the number of universities currently on the list.
16. The Innovator Founder route will be reviewed for accessibility (it's currently not particularly user-friendly), and Expansion Worker licensing will permit upto 10 employees or directors (up from 5) of overseas businesses to be sponsored into the UK to facilitate their establishment here.
17. Licensing and visa processes are set to be streamlined in the Skilled Worker and Student routes, with vignettes in passport no longer being required once a visa is approved. This is an expected move, in line with the broader transition to digital proof of status already under way. The UK's e-gates are also being upgraded to allow for contactless travel through gates based on facial recognition technology.
18. The UK's universities sector will also face reform of the way it sponsors overseas students, the government having identified a disproportionate increase in students coming to attend lower-ranked institutions, and of students failing to complete courses or to seek asylum once here. It will explore a levy on universities, presumably similar to the Immigration Skills Charge, and increase sponsor metrics contained in the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA). This will require a course completion rate of at least 90% (up from 85%), for example.
19. For short-term students, coming to the UK for between 6 and 11 months, greater focus will be placed on genuineness, which will inevitably lead to more refusals in a visa route that already experiences a high level of negative decisions.
20. The Graduate visa route has been widely trailed as under review; the White Paper confirms that time spent in this route will be reduced from 2 or 3 years down to 18 months. There is, perhaps surprisingly, no reference to Graduates being restricted to certain types of work.
21. On family migration, a new policy is set to be introduced in later 2025 covering partner, child and adult dependent relative applications. The focus of these changes appears to be how “exceptional circumstances” are assessed, the government decrying the role of the courts in shaping the law in this area. Parliament, it is said, will take back control.
22. English language testing will beefed up, with Skilled Workers having to meet level B2 rather than B1 as currently, and anyone settling in the UK also requiring B2 proficiency. Testing will be extended to dependants of economic migrants such as sponsored Skilled Workers, Students and Graduates, meaning family members over 18 will have to demonstrate level A1 CEFR proficiency; it is not clear if this will be just across speaking and listening, or encompass all four disciplines (adding reading and writing).
23. On settlement, those in economic routes face a headline increase in their qualifying period from 5 to 10 years, with potential discounting based on the new concept of “earned settlement”, or a “points-based contribution to the UK economy and society”. No details of this are disclosed, as they are to be consulted on during 2025. Fortunately, partners of British citizens and settled persons will continue on a 5-year path to permanent residence.
24. The government will create a new “bereaved parent” route to immediate settlement for the parent of a British or settled child who sadly dies; it will also introduce a new settlement pathway for children in care and care leavers.
25. Similar to new settlement rules, we will see the concept of “earned citizenship”, with a standard 10-year qualifying period of residence capable of being reduced by economic or societal contribution.
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