UK's Labour government unveils severe restrictions to its visa routes to curb lower-skilled migrants

LONDON: The UK government announced on Monday wide-ranging reforms to restrict legal immigration to Britain, which will have a severe impact on Indian citizens.

Announcing his immigration white paper, UK PM Keir Starmer said Britain’s one-nation experiment in open borders was “over”, the UK “risked becoming an island of strangers” and the damage the explosion in immigration “has done to our country is incalculable”.

The paper noted a surge in lower-skilled migration by non-EU nationals and a surge in international students studying at lower-ranked universities in recent years. It said the UK wants to reduce overseas recruitment in favour of training UK workers.

Henceforth only people with degrees will be eligible for skilled worker visas, earlier it was an A -level equivalent; the graduate visa which allows students to work after they graduate will be reduced from 24 months to 18 months; the health and care worker visa, which allows foreign nationals to work in the care sector, is to be abolished. Foreign nationals will not be eligible for settlement or citizenship until they have lived in the UK 10 years, up from five years, and there will be tough new English language requirements on all visa routes.

The Immigration Skills Charge, imposed on employers who sponsor skilled workers, will be increased by 32% and salary thresholds will be increased for all skilled worker visas wishing to bring dependants.

Indians were granted last year the highest number of skilled and health and care worker visas, and the second highest number of study visas.

Those already on skilled worker visas will not be impacted unless they switch to another route. However, the UK will only permit visa extensions and in-country switching for those already in the country on the health and care worker visa until 2028. The white paper blamed the route closure on exploitation and abuse of workers by care companies recruiting from overseas.

“We have seen misuse and exploitation of student visas, where visas are used as an entry point for living and working in the UK without any intention to complete the course, and increasing numbers of asylum claims from students at the end of their course. In addition too many graduates allowed to stay in the UK following the successful completion of their studies are not moving into the graduate level roles for which the graduate visa route was created,” it said.

The UK instead wants to attract more people on its high talent routes, such as the Global Talent visa and High Potential Individual route, the paper added.