Advisers urge UK govt to ease skilled worker visa salary thresholds

LONDON Dec 17: The UK should lower current salary thresholds for skilled worker visas, which prevent some key occupations, younger professionals, and employers outside London from accessing the immigration system, according to the government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC).

In a report released on Wednesday, the MAC said salary benchmarks tied to specific occupations were now set higher than necessary to stop migrant workers undercutting local pay. In many cases, employers must offer foreign recruits significantly more than their UK counterparts to meet visa criteria — creating concerns over fairness and limiting hiring options across the country.

The committee noted that universities, for example, can hire professors but not lower-paid research fellows or junior lecturers under current rules. An academic librarian earning £41,700 qualifies for sponsorship, while an IT director on £85,000 could fall short due to variations within occupational salary bands.

The tightened thresholds were introduced by the previous Conservative government, requiring employers to pay overseas staff at least the median wage for their specific job — as well as meeting a general salary floor of £41,700 for all skilled roles. These higher requirements formed part of efforts to reduce net migration, which surged to record levels after the pandemic and Brexit.

The Labour government has since added further restrictions, limiting most work visas to graduate-level roles except in a few strategically important sectors. These measures have driven net migration down from 649,000 in the year to June 2024 to 204,000 by June 2025 — below pre-Brexit levels.

However, MAC chair Professor Brian Bell said migration numbers were now likely “close to bottoming out,” warning that deeper cuts would mean targeting student and work visa routes — which are easier to control than asylum flows, but more damaging economically and fiscally.

The committee recommended resetting the occupation-specific thresholds at the 25th percentile of UK earnings, meaning migrant workers would still earn more than a quarter of British workers in similar roles. Britain’s current model “makes little sense,” it argued, noting that even software developers paid £44,900 — the median wage for that role — might not qualify because their occupational category is inflated by higher-paid software engineers and architects.

Keeping the general salary threshold at £41,700 would slightly increase net migration, but ensure all overseas workers contribute positively to the public finances, the MAC said. Reducing migration further would require lifting the overall threshold, though that could reduce tax revenues.

The report also highlighted challenges for younger visa holders who initially qualify at lower rates but later face steep pay rises to remain in the UK — a requirement many employers view as unrealistic and unfair when compared to domestic pay scales.

The government, which asked the MAC to review the post-election salary rules, will now consider its recommendations. Any adjustments are expected to take effect next April, coinciding with the regular update to immigration regulations.

In the new review, the MAC examines salary thresholds and discounts across several migration routes, including the Skilled Worker (SW), Health and Care Worker, Global Business Mobility, and Scale-up routes. These salary thresholds, the committee explains, serve multiple purposes within migration policy—such as preventing underpayment of migrants, encouraging employers to look to domestic labour first, ensuring fiscal contributions, and managing net migration levels.

Following its analysis, the MAC recommends maintaining the general Skilled Worker salary threshold at £41,700, which it says best balances fiscal benefits and labour market needs. According to the committee, this figure supports recruitment in key industrial sectors while reflecting wage variations across the UK. Although a higher threshold could marginally reduce net migration, the committee notes it would likely have less favourable fiscal outcomes and complicate salary structures for younger workers.

The report also advises reversing the previous government’s 2024 increase in occupation-specific thresholds from the 25th to the 50th percentile of earnings. It argues that this change has been ineffective in meeting policy goals, particularly in reducing migration, and has undermined the thresholds’ original purpose of protecting domestic workers from wage undercutting.

To support graduate entry, the committee proposes a new single “new entrant” rate of £33,400, and recommends abolishing the PhD discount, citing a lack of evidence that PhD holders earn less than average workers. If the general SW threshold remains at £41,700, MAC also sees no need for a separate postdoctoral discount.

Additional recommendations cover salary rate adjustments for the Temporary Shortage List, the Global Business Mobility route, and relevant Health and Care occupations. The committee also cautions against creating new routes like the Scale-up visa, which has seen minimal uptake, unless a clear labour market demand is demonstrated.