UK's higher salary thresholds for overseas skilled work visas kick in

Significantly higher salary thresholds for overseas workers, including Indians, applying for the UK's Skilled Worker visas kicked in on Thursday, as part of tough new measures announced earlier to cut Britain's overall migration figures.

For those applying under the Skilled Worker visa route, the salary threshold for an application will rise from GBP 26,200 to GBP 38,700 an increase of 48 per cent.

The UK Home Office said it forms part of a robust and fair package of measures, which will mean 300,000 people who arrived in the UK last year would now not be able to and also prevent undercutting of domestic workers by cheap overseas labour.

 

It's time to turn off the taps and end the flow of cheap workers from abroad. Mass migration is unsustainable, and it's simply not fair. It undercuts the wages of hard-working people who are just trying to make ends meet, said UK Home Secretary James Cleverly.

We are refocusing our immigration system to prioritise the brightest and best who have the skills our economy needs while reducing overall numbers. I promised the British people an immigration system that serves their interests, and to bring numbers down - these tough measures deliver on that commitment. Employers must also play their part and put British workers first, he said.

On April 11, an incremental increase to the minimum income required for overseas applicants to bring their dependents on Family Visas will also come into force rising to GBP 29,000 from GBP 18,600.

By early next year, this is set to match the Skilled Worker visa threshold of GBP 38,700, which the Home Office said would ensure family dependents brought to the UK are supported financially.

The government is clear that no sector should be permanently reliant on immigration, so today, the Shortage Occupation List has also been abolished, with employers no longer able to pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations, the Home Office said.

Under a new Immigration Salary List (ISL), created on the advice of the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), roles will only be included where they are skilled and in shortage, considering the efforts being made by sectors to invest in the resident workforce.

The Home Office said inclusion on the ISL must not serve to reduce pay and undermine the recruitment of British workers, and employers should be encouraged to invest in training, upskilling, and hiring domestic workers first.

For too long, we have relied on labour from abroad when there is great talent right here in the UK The changes coming into force today, coupled with my next generation of welfare reforms, will unlock the huge potential of the great British workforce, said UK Work and Pension Secretary Mel Stride.

The latest moves follow a recent ban on post-graduate students, except on major research projects, from bringing family dependents to the UK.

Last month, reforms to restrict care workers from bringing family members also came into force, with providers required to register with industry regulator Care Quality Commission (CQC) to crack down on reported visa misuse and exploitation in the sector.

The changes are expected to impact Indians as a nationality, which currently leads the UK's tally of skilled workers, healthcare professionals and students from overseas.

According to recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) statistics, Indians under the Skilled Worker route registered a small decline of 11 per cent from 20,360 visas to 18,107 between September 2022 and 2023.

On the dependent family visa front, Indian nationals had the second-highest number of dependents after Nigeria at 43,445 in the year ending September 2023.

In the student visa category, Indian nationals continued to represent the largest group of students granted leave to remain on the post-study Graduate visa route, representing 43 per cent of grants.

A review of the route is now underway by MAC, which the Home Office says would prevent abuse and ensure it works in the best interests of the UK. It is expected to report later this year.
 

Indian student group begins ‘Fair Visa, Fair Chance' campaign in UK 

One of the UK's prominent Indian student representative organisations on Thursday began a new “Fair Visa, Fair Chance” campaign in favour of the post-study Graduate Route visa, which has proved hugely popular with students from India since its launch around three years ago.

The National Indian Students and Alumni Union (NISAU) UK, which had originally campaigned for the visa that allows international graduates the chance to gain work experience for two years after their degree, fears the ongoing review of the route would reverse the progress made.

The independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has been commissioned to review the Graduate Route visa by UK Home Secretary James Cleverly to ensure it is “fit for purpose” and is expected to report by next month.

“The ability to work for two years post-graduation helps international students to earn money to help pay for their degrees and enable some to get valuable work experience as well as to continue to build strong links with the UK,” said Lord Karan Bilimoria, Co-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on International Students and patron of NISAU UK.

“We are in a global race and have to offer post-graduation work opportunities that are attractive in competing with countries, such as the United States of America, Canada, and Australia. The fear of the removal of the two-year post-graduation work visa is sending out unnecessary and damaging negative messages around the world, and universities are already seeing a huge decline in international students' applications,” he said.

He also warned that Britain would be “shooting itself in the foot” if the Graduate Route was curtailed given that international students contribute GBP 42 billion to the UK economy.

Since its relaunch for the 2020-21 cohort of international students, the Home Office says a total of 213,250 visas have been granted under the route – with Indians consistently dominating as the largest group of students granted leave to remain with 43 per cent of grants last year.

“It is very sad that a mere few years on from the re-introduction of post-study working in the UK, we are having to once again make the case to defend it. The Graduate visa is a key requirement of Indian students and a critical offer of the UK's international higher education system,” said Sanam Arora, NISAU UK chair and Commissioner of the UK's International Higher Education Commission.

“We campaigned for seven years to bring it back last time and will fight to protect this essential pathway again. Without the Graduate route, university finances may collapse. The impact of this not just on international students but also on UK's home students will be bad, given domestic students and the world-class research that happens in UK universities is heavily cross-subsidised by international students,” she said.

NISAU UK has been invited to present evidence to MAC and it plans to share its own research and learnings from the annual India-UK Achievers Honours programme, which celebrates high-achieving Indian graduates from the UK who have made exceptional contributions to their respective fields and society at large.

Indian students have already begun to show signs of being turned off from applying to British universities, with the latest Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) figures revealing a four per cent drop in applications from India.

However, the Home Office pointed to MAC analysis which revealed that the number of international post-graduate students attending institutions with the lowest UCAS entry requirements has increased by over 250 per cent between 2018 and 2022, bringing its mantra of attracting the "brightest and the best" into question.

In its annual report finalised before the review was announced in Parliament at the end of last year, MAC said: “More fundamentally, we suggest that the government needs to decide what the purpose of the Graduate Route is. If its primary objective is to enhance the offer to international students who choose to study in the UK and so increase the number of international students in higher education, then it appears to have been a resounding success."

“If the objective is to attract talented students who will subsequently work in high-skilled graduate jobs, then we are sceptical that it adds much to the Skilled Worker route which was already available to switch into after graduation, and we expect that at least a significant fraction of the Graduate Route will comprise low-wage workers,” it said.