The recently published White Paper sets out the UK Government’s plans to reduce net migration, with dramatic consequences for settlement, sponsors, the care sector, English language requirements and graduates.
The UK Government’s much-anticipated Immigration White Paper has finally been published, setting out radical proposals for the UK’s immigration system.
The proposed changes are so numerous that it would be impossible to cover them all in one article – but, below, we have set out a summary of the more significant changes, which should also offer an overview of the general policy direction.
Settlement
Currently, most settlement routes in the UK (including on Skilled Worker and Family visas) permit applications for indefinite leave to remain (or settlement) in the UK after five years of continuous residence in the UK.
Settlement provides the individual with the right to live and work in the UK permanently, meaning no further visa fees (though they may wish to apply for British citizenship in due course).
However, the White Paper has confirmed that, in general, the required period of residence will increase from five to ten years.
This change will have several significant consequences. First, and most obvious, it will take much longer for visa-holders to settle in the UK. It is not yet clear whether this change will apply to those who are already in the UK on the route to settlement, or just those who apply for their visa after a certain future date, but ten years is a long wait in either case. The Government’s hope is that this “earned settlement” principle will discourage those looking for a quick route to settlement and thereby drive down net migration – but how this will play out in practice remains to be seen.
Secondly, because it will now take ten years to settle, the overall cost of visa renewals will also increase. Take an applicant on the Skilled Worker route, for example – as it stands, they would need to apply for a five-year Skilled Worker visa and then for settlement at the end of the visa’s life (paying the Immigration Healthcare Surcharge in the meantime). The total cost of this (not including sponsor costs – more on those below) would be around £9,800.
Under the new proposals, they would instead need to apply for an initial Skilled Worker visa, then extend this by another five years, and then finally apply for settlement, paying for ten years’ worth of Healthcare Surcharge. The cost would be significantly higher – in the region of £16,700 – not taking into account any fee increases during the ten years residence.
Thirdly and finally, this longer wait for settlement is likely to generate a greater administrative burden for sponsors and the Home Office. Sponsors may need to keep records and report on their sponsored Skilled Workers for as long as ten years – and there will also be the cost to sponsoring workers for a decade (see below). For the Home Office, there will be a far greater proportion of visa-holders in the UK, all of whom need to be tracked and monitored, increasing the administrative burden on UK Visas and Immigration, which is already at capacity.
The White Paper does say that there will be exceptions to this change for those who make “contributions to the UK economy and society”, allowing them to settle within five years – although there is currently no clarity on what is meant by this. Arguably, anyone who pays taxes or purchases goods or services in the UK is contributing to Britain’s economy, though doubtless this is not what the White Paper means. It may be that the criteria will take a similar form to the existing “good character” requirements, albeit judged to a higher standard, or will be based simply on salary or role – in any case, the result is likely to be even more admin for the Home Office.
How FSP can help:
If you are an individual who already has or is approaching five-years’ continuous residence, we can assist you with preparing and submitting an application for indefinite leave to remain now, so that there is no risk of you being impacted by the planned extension of the residency requirements to ten years (in the event that these changes end up applying retroactively).
If you are a sponsor, we can help you manage the increased burden of reporting and record-keeping that the above change is likely to cause, under our sponsor licence retainer service. We currently manage the licences of a considerable number of sponsors, and so we are well equipped to advise on record-keeping obligations and report changes of circumstances to the Home Office.
Sponsorship
The White Paper has also announced a 32% increase to the Immigration Skills Charge – a fee that businesses must pay up-front when sponsoring workers on certain work routes (including the Skilled Worker route).
This means that the minimum cost to a medium-sized business of sponsoring a Skilled Worker from entry to settlement will increase from £5,525 to an astonishing £13,725 – a 148% increase.
This 13,725 figure represents the Immigration Skills Charge and Certificate of Sponsorship assignment only – the fees which must be paid by the sponsor. It is not unusual for sponsors to agree to also cover the other fees involved in the worker’s visa application, given that these costs are likely to be a significant roadblock to the individual taking up employment. Currently the cost to a medium-sized business of sponsoring a Skilled Worker from entry to settlement, and covering the visa and healthcare fees involved, is around £12,250. After the changes to settlement and the Skills Charge come into force, this will jump to a figure in the region of £27,500.
In addition, the skill level for Skilled Workers is increasing from RQF 3 to RQF 6, which is expected to result in a significant reduction in eligible occupation codes and higher evidential expectations in respect of academic qualifications and experience. Roles below RQF 6 will only be eligible if they feature on the Temporary Shortage List – a new list of shortage roles. That might sound similar to the existing Immigration Salary List (which is being disposed of as part of the White Paper’s changes), but the Temporary Shortage List is intended to cover only those roles which are needed for delivering critical infrastructure or that are otherwise crucial to the UK’s industrial strategy.
There is also nothing to suggest that there will be any special reductions to minimum salary requirements for shortage roles, whether on the Temporary Shortage List or otherwise. Given that the White Paper states that salary thresholds will rise across the board, we should anticipate significant increases in the cost of sponsoring workers in certain industries – though, again, it is not yet clear whether these changes will apply to workers who are already sponsored.
These changes will restrict the range of job opportunities available to potential Skilled Worker applicants and make it more expensive for businesses to sponsor Skilled Workers. As a result, it is likely to become much harder to obtain a sponsored role and, therefore, a Skilled Worker visa, going forward.
The White Paper does say that the Government will explore “making it easier for workers to move between licensed sponsors for the duration of their visa” – currently, moving from one sponsor to another would require the employee to apply for a new Skilled Worker visa. If such flexibility were introduced, it might go some way to combatting exploitation in certain sectors, as well as leading to a more efficient allocation of labour resources and greater competition – although employers might grit their teeth at the prospect of sponsoring a Skilled Worker, and perhaps even contributing towards their visa fees, only for them to quickly and easily switch to a new employer. Regardless, the White Paper does not detail any proposals for how this increased flexibility might be introduced, so it does not seem that addressing this is at the top of the Government’s to-do list.
How FSP can help:
If you are a sponsor, we can advise on the impact of these fee increases on your business, in conjunction with the recent company size changes – more on that here.
We can also advise you on the roles that are likely to qualify for a Skilled Worker visa once the skill level changes are introduced, and the areas of your business in which sponsorship may continue to be viable.
Finally, if you have applicants who are planning on applying for Skilled Worker visas shortly, or existing sponsored workers who are looking to extend their visas, we can assist with applying for and assigning Certificates of Sponsorship before the Immigration Skills Charge rise comes into effect, so that you can avoid the cost increase. We can also help with preparing, reviewing and submitting these workers’ visa applications.
Care sector
New rules for care sector sponsors were introduced in April, requiring them to demonstrate that they had first attempted to employ displaced workers already in the UK before seeking to sponsor and employ care workers from overseas. You can read more about April’s statement of changes, including this new rule, here.
However, that displaced worker rule will soon be rendered obsolete, subject to the White Paper’s changes coming into force. The White Paper proposes an outright ban on sponsoring overseas care workers, meaning that care sector employers will have no choice but to recruit domestically.
As it stands, applications by care workers to switch or extend their work visas from within the UK will continue to be permitted until 2028, although the White Paper does state that this will be kept under review – meaning that sponsored care workers currently in the UK may not be afforded the opportunity to extend their visas.
Depending on whether the ten-year timeline to settlement applies retroactively or not, the 2028 deadline may also mean that many sponsored care workers who are already in the UK and on the path to settlement could suddenly find themselves unable to settle unless they change career.
The White Paper suggests that these changes are aimed at combatting exploitation in the care sector, and that shortages will be addressed through the introduction of Fair Pay Agreements, aimed at improving pay and working conditions in the sector. The hope is that this approach will make care work a more attractive proposition for British workers, driving up domestic recruitment and retention rates, and reducing the UK’s dependence on overseas workers to care for its aging population.
However, it remains to be seen whether cutting off the supply of these overseas workers will stimulate domestic recruitment or simply exacerbate the existing shortages. While care sector employers will be left with no choice but to recruit from within the UK, that does not necessarily mean that the pay and conditions they can afford to offer will align with the domestic workforce’s expectations.
How FSP can help:
If you are a care sector employer, we can assist you with sponsoring overseas care workers now, as well as with preparing, reviewing and submitting their visa applications, if necessary, before the ban comes into force.
English Language
Various changes are also set to be made to existing English language requirements.
Firstly, the Common European Framework for Reference for Languages (CEFR) level required for Skilled Worker visas (and other work visas which already require English language proficiency) will increase from level B1 to B2. This is only a small increase to the proficiency required, though it may catch some out – if, for example, an applicant passes a B1 level test shortly before the White Paper changes are implemented, they may find themselves having to take another test at B2 level before they can apply for their visa.
Secondly, a new English language requirement will be introduced for adult dependants of workers and students, at A1 level. As it stands, there is no such requirement for these dependants to demonstrate English language proficiency, and so this represents quite a significant change. While A1 level requires a rather basic understanding of English, this change is likely to see a marked increase in demand for Secure English Language Tests from approved providers, which may in turn slow the timescales for getting test appointments and receiving results across the board.
Thirdly and finally, there will be a new minimum standard of English language proficiency at level A2 when extending any visa. Similarly, the proficiency required for all settlement applications will be standardised at an increased level of B2, irrespective of the route through which the individual qualified for settlement. These changes are couched in the White Paper’s desire to improve integration, with the UK Government looking to encourage an observable improvement in migrants’ English skills over time.
How FSP can help:
As part of our visa services, we can advise you on the English language proficiency requirements applicable to your circumstances, identifying options for meeting the criteria and pointing you towards appropriate English tests where necessary.
Graduates
The Graduate visa currently allows international students to remain in the UK for a further two years after the completion of their studies (or for three years, in the case of PhD and other doctoral students). As the Graduate visa is unsponsored, Graduates do not need to immediately obtain employment with a licensed sponsor (or, indeed, with any employer) after the end of their course, and instead can use this two-year period to explore career options and find an appropriate role. Many Graduates then switch to a Skilled Worker visa in due course.
The White Paper raises concerns over the number of international students remaining in the UK on the Graduate route and indicates that too high a proportion of these Graduates are taking too long to find high-skilled employment after finishing their studies.
With the stated aim of combatting this and incentivising international students to obtain graduate-level jobs within a shorter timeframe, the White Paper proposes reducing the length of the Graduate visa down to 18 months. It is not yet clear whether this change will equally affect PhD students.
However, there will not be any specific requirement for international students to apply for or obtain a “graduate-level” role in order to qualify for a Graduate visa, as had been speculated prior to the White Paper’s publication.
How FSP can help:
We can help you with your application for a Graduate visa, before these changes come into force, so that you can benefit from the current two-year visa length.
Alternatively, if you are already on a Graduate visa, then we can assist with your application to switch to a Skilled Worker visa. If the settlement changes referred to above are not to apply retroactively, then it may be worth getting on the path to settlement now, before the route is extended to ten years for future applicants.
What next?
While there are yet no published timescales for when we can expect the White Paper’s proposed changes to come into force, the current Labour government have been quite prompt in introducing immigration changes very shortly after they are announced – as with, for example, the fee increases and care worker recruitment changes from earlier this year.
Indeed, a Home Office press release, published in conjunction with the White Paper, lends credence to these changes being introduced sooner than might ordinarily be expected. The press release states that the White Paper’s policy proposals “will be delivered over the course of this Parliament to strengthen the UK’s immigration system, with the first changes set to be introduced in the coming weeks.”
This means that there may now be very little time to prepare for these changes. We will of course need to await further detail, particularly on the retroactive impact of the settlement changes, but now is the time to begin considering how the White Paper’s proposals might affect you, your family, or your business.
As we have outlined in this article, there are numerous ways in which we can help you prepare for the future of UK immigration. If this article, or anything that you have heard about the White Paper more generally, has given you pause or brought up questions or concerns, please do get in touch at [email protected] – we would be happy to assist.
