05/12/2023
UK yachinja mutemo - Dependents banned on Care work visa
If your plans for relocating were solely based on being a dependent of a spouse or parent who is in Health Care, UK Government has some bad news for you.
The British government announced tough new immigration rules Monday that it says will reduce the number of people able to move to the U.K. each year by hundreds of thousands.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said he was taking “robust action” to lower authorized immigration, which hit a record level of almost 750,000 people in 2022. Critics said the moves would leave overstretched sectors like health and social care at a breaking point
Under the new rules, immigrants will have to earn more to get a work visa and will find it harder to bring family members to the U.K.
Cleverly said that from the spring of 2024, prospective immigrants will have to earn 38,700 pounds ($48,900) to get a skilled worker visa, up from 26,200 pounds ($33,000) now. British citizens who want to bring their foreign spouse to Britain will have to earn the same amount – almost double the current threshold.
Health and social care, sectors that are highly reliant on immigrant staff, are exempt from the salary rule. But care workers from overseas will no longer be able to bring dependent relatives with them to Britain, leading to concerns in the industry that fewer will want to come.
The government also said it would scrap a rule that lets employers in sectors on a “shortage occupation list” pay immigrant workers 20% less than U.K. citizens.
Starting in January, most foreign graduate students also will no longer be able to bring family members to the U.K.
Cleverly said the new measures would reduce by 300,000 the number of people eligible to move to Britain in future years.