Immigration
Last month, the Home Office made a series of announcements regarding changes to immigration. You can read more about these here. These changes will likely impact workers and employers, and as such, we've been working hard to push for further clarity and impact assessments on the changes. In response to this, on the 21 December, the Home Office published a factsheet, with more information about the policy announcements. The changes are listed below.
The Home Office is planning to gradually increase the minimum income required for family visas to provide families with stability. In Spring 2024, the threshold will go up to £29,000, then to £34,500, and eventually to £38,700, aligning with the Skilled Worker Visa threshold.
Anyone already on a family visa or those applying before the minimum income is raised this year will be assessed using the current requirement and won't need to meet the higher threshold. However, anyone applying for the five-year partner route after the increase must meet the new income requirements.
Care and senior care workers already on this visa route can continue residing with their dependants, and the Home Office has confirmed that this includes extensions, changing employers (within specific SOC codes above), and settlement.
If a care worker or senior care worker is already on this specific route before the Immigration Rules change but hasn't yet brought dependants, they will be allowed to bring dependants during their time on this visa.
However, individuals in the UK on any other visa, even if that route permits dependants, won't be able to stay with or bring dependants if they switch to the care visa as a care worker or senior care worker after the immigration rules change date.
These changes will be introduced through Immigration Rules, and they are set to take effect in April 2024. Individuals already in the Skilled Worker route before the Immigration Rules change will be exempt from the new median salary levels when changing sponsors, extending their stay, or settling.
The Home Office announced that the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) will be renamed the Immigration Salary List, and the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will advise on which of the current SOL occupations should remain on the list in line with the new salary thresholds. The current SOL will remain in place until the new salary thresholds are implemented in late Spring 2024.
The MAC is to review this visa route to ensure that it is operating in the "best interests and priorities" of the UK and ensuring the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system is maintained. The MAC will be commissioned to carry out this work in January 2024, and we expect their work to continue until late 2024.
In December, we started gathering evidence from REC members about the impact of these changes, which have been shared directly with the Home Office. We're working with other industry bodies, like the CBI, to ensure a strong collective business voice, which includes our members, is represented when engaging with Home Office and other government departments. We know how powerful member insights can be so please continue sharing your views and case studies with us!
In addition, we've asked the Home Office for a roundtable with REC members so policymakers can hear firsthand about the impact these changes will have on the workforce - we'll let you know once we secure a date.
If you would like to discuss these changes, please contact our Immigration Policy Lead, Usman Ali on Usman.Ali@rec.uk.com
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