New immigration rules to be laid in Parliament Today: If accepted will come into force from July 22

LONDON July 1: Following the publication of the Immigration White Paper on May 12, the government will be presenting new changes to immigration rules in the parliament today (July 1). The changes, if approved by MPs and peers, will come into force from July 22.

Legislation to end the recruitment of care workers from abroad is also set to be introduced as part of a raft of immigration reforms. Transitional arrangements for overseas care workers already in the UK have also been set out today (Tuesday), according to the department.

The package of measures includes:

1, Raising the skills threshold for Skilled Worker visas, removing 111 eligible occupations
2. Closing the social care worker visa route to overseas recruitment in response to widespread abuse and exploitation
3. Only allowing time-limited access below degree level through a targeted immigration salary list and temporary shortage list, for critical roles only, with strict requirements for sectors to grow domestic skills
4. Commissioning the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to conduct a review of the temporary shortage list including occupations, salaries and benefits

But the move to scrap care worker visas has sparked concerns from the sector, with GMB national officer Will Dalton describing the decision as “potentially catastrophic” as the care sector was “utterly reliant on migrant workers” and still had more than 130,000 vacancies across the country. The Home Office believes there are 40,000 potential members of staff originally brought over by “rogue” providers who could work in the sector while UK staff are trained up. Transitional arrangements for overseas care workers already in the UK have also been set out on Tuesday, according to the department.

According to the government the introduction of an interim, time-limited and conditional temporary shortage list will make sure the immigration system works better for the UK, with international recruitment only providing support where occupations are key to the industrial strategy or building crucial infrastructure. Each sector must have a workforce strategy in place to train UK workers, or it will lose access to the immigration system.

New rules to be laid in Parliament today (Tuesday) will also seek to increase salary and skills thresholds up to degree level for skilled workers, which will cut eligibility for 111 occupations. A new time-limited temporary shortage list will also be introduced until the end of 2026 for below degree level, where recruiting foreign workers is key to build critical infrastructure or industrial strategy. Workers in occupations on the temporary shortage list will no longer be able to bring dependants and will not be permitted salary and visa fee discounts. The occupations included on the List are time-limited until the end of 2026 and will only remain beyond that date if the independent Migration Advisory Committee recommend it.

In the interim, the government will not hesitate to restrict immigration access further, should there be clear signs of abuse and exploitation in sectors. In time, we will also abolish the previous government’s immigration salary list.  Subject to parliamentary approval, the changes will come into effect from 22 July, and transitional arrangements have also today been set out for overseas care workers already in the UK.

Next steps
Further changes to be implemented by the end of this year also include:

Raising the immigration skills charge
Uplifting language requirements across the immigration system
Unveiling a new family policy framework to Parliament
The Immigration White Paper forms part of a broader programme of immigration and border security reforms, with further measures on asylum and border security to be announced later this year.