The UK government announced a series of measures on Monday aimed at significantly reducing immigration levels.
The Home Office, the department responsible for immigration, stated these changes would be the “biggest ever cut in migration” for the country.
Effective immediately, healthcare workers entering the UK on dedicated visas can no longer bring dependants with them. This policy aims to encourage businesses to prioritize British talent and invest in their existing workforce.
According to the Home Office, the revision will encourage “businesses to look to British talent first and invest in their workforce.” This will help the UK deter employers from over-relying on migration while bringing salaries in line with the average full-time salary for these types of jobs.
Interior Secretary James Cleverly said his plan would result in 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK in the coming years.
Under plans set out by Cleverly, workers would need to earn at least £38,700 to obtain a visa, up from £26,200, while care workers would be barred from bringing in dependants from next April.
He said, “The first of our five points will be to end the abuse of the care visa. We will stop overseas care workers from bringing family, dependants and we will require firms in England to be regulated by the Health Care Quality Commission in order for them to sponsor visas.
“Approximately, £120,000 dependants accompanied £100,000 care workers in the year ending September 2023, but only 25% of the dependants are estimated to be in work, meaning that a significant number are joining public services rather than helping to grow the economy.
“We recognise that healthcare workers do great work in our NHIS and health sector, but it’s also important that immigrants make a big enough financial contribution. Therefore, it will increase the annual immigration healthcare charge by 66% from £624 to £1035 to raise, on average, £1.3 billion for the health services of the country every year.
“Second, we will stop immigration undercutting the salary of British workers. We will increase skilled workers’ earning threshold by a third to £38,000 from next spring in line with the medium, full-term wage for those kinds of jobs.
“Those coming on social and health visas will be exempt, so we will continue to bring healthcare workers.”
The Home Office also made another post on its verified X handle (formerly Twitter) to verify the announcement saying, “From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependants.
“This is part of our plan to deliver the biggest ever cut in migration,” it wrote.
