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Visas for skilled overseas workers will be time-limited for those not taking a graduate-level job, the Home Office has announced.
The measure comes as part of a preview of wider plans being unveiled this week that are designed to reduce net migration to the UK.
Under the proposals, already revealed in part by the Guardian, the standard skilled visa threshold will only apply to jobs gauged at six on the regulated qualifications framework (RQF), which is equivalent to a degree, rather than the current three, roughly the standard of A-level.
According to details set out by the Home Office, for anyone filling a job deemed as below RQF 6, they will only be allowed into the country for a limited period, and if there is “strong evidence of shortages which are critical to the industrial strategy”.
Additionally, for this to happen, employers in the sector bringing in the overseas staff must show they have plans to increase domestic recruitment and skills.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, hailed the plan as “decisive action to restore control and order to the immigration system, raise domestic training and skills, and bring down net migration while promoting economic growth”.
On Monday, she will present a government white paper – a document which sets out plans for future legislation – intended to notably curb net migration, as ministers try to respond to the local election success of Reform UK, with its vehement anti-migration message.
While skilled visa numbers have already significantly reduced in the last few years, further hurdles to overseas recruitment could cause problems for industries such as care and hospitality, with one care organisation warning that without coherent government action to attract UK staff, more care providers could go out of business.
The other policy set out seeks to address this in part, with the establishment of what is called the Labour Market Evidence Group.
Made up of officials from industry and skills bodies, as well as government and the Migration Advisory Council (MAC) quango, it will, the Home Office said, “inform understanding of where sectors are overly reliant on overseas labour and reverse underinvestment in domestic skills”.
Cooper is under significant pressure to further reduce net migration, particularly with the rise of Reform. As well as winning control of 10 councils on 1 May, Nigel Farage’s party, which is promising an effective freeze on most migration, is topping most polls of national voter preference.
Announcing the skilled visa changes, Cooper reiterated the government’s blame on previous Conservative administrations for, she said, having “replaced free movement [in the EU] with a free market experiment”.
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“The last government lost control of the immigration system and there was no proper plan to tackle skills shortages here at home. This has undermined public confidence, distorted our labour market, and been really damaging for both our immigration system and our economy.”
It remains to be seen how much of an impact the changes to skilled visas will make in absolute numbers. MAC data shows that the number of skilled workers entering the UK for jobs with skill levels below RQF six had already dropped in the last few years, while the numbers with degree level skills have stayed constant at about 75,000 annually.
Nadra Ahmed, executive chair of the National Care Association, said that while her group would have to examine the proposals in detail, she was worried about the potential “accidental consequences” for a sector where about 70,000 staff are from overseas, and which has an estimated 120,000 vacancies.
“Making it even more difficult for the sector seems strange because the statistics are clear – at the moment we can’t attract the domestic workforce, because we haven’t sorted out fair pay for them,” she said.
“And if this isn’t funded, then the gap in the social care sector economy will only grow. That will drive providers out of the sector, which will have a direct impact on the ability to help people who need support today.”
