How the Immigration Rules Changes to the Minimum Income Requirement for Skilled Worker Visas and Health and Care Worker Visas will Work
When the UK government announced changes to the minimum salary threshold there was shock from some UK employers and sponsored workers but scant detail.
Giving out headline news without explaining how changes to the immigration rules will work in practice is common with the Home Office. Take, for example, the way the Home Office has released information on the rise in the financial requirement for the Family Visa and the perception created that there would be a massive hike in the minimum income requirement followed by the release of a statement saying the increase would be phased in.
In this blog, our Immigration Solicitors look in more detail at how the changes to the minimum income requirement for Skilled Worker Visa holders and the changes to the Health and Care Worker Visa will work.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For work visa and business immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
The increase in the minimum salary threshold
The increase in the minimum salary threshold for work visas is a concern for both UK sponsor licence holders as well as for current sponsored employees and those contemplating moving to the UK on a Skilled Worker Visa.
The UK government has said that in Spring 2024 the minimum income requirement will increase to £38,700 for the Skilled Worker Visa. Sponsor licence holders were initially concerned that existing sponsored employees would require a pay rise to continue their sponsorship or would only succeed in an application for a Skilled Worker Visa extension if their salary was increased from £26,200 to the new minimum level of £38,700 or the going rate for the job, whichever was higher.
Existing skilled workers and the minimum salary threshold
The legal migration immigration minister has said in a written response to a question that existing skilled workers will not be required to meet the new minimum salary requirement. Nor will they need to do so when applying to extend their Skilled Worker Visa or when applying to settle in the UK through applying for indefinite leave to remain.
The minister, Tom Pursglove, said:
"Until the Immigration Rules are amended next Spring, the current salary and Minimum Income Requirement thresholds, and policies relating to dependants, remain in place and at the current levels. Those already in the Skilled work route, and applications made before the rules change, will not be subject to the new £38,700 salary threshold when they change employment, extend, or settle."
The Home Office fact sheet
The minister’s response to a question was supplemented by a Home Office fact sheet covering changes to the Skilled Worker Visa minimum salary threshold and to the Health and Care Worker Visa.
The December 2023 fact sheet confirms and clarifies that:
- In April 2024 the minimum earnings threshold for the Skilled Worker Visa will rise from £26,200 to £38,700. In addition, the individual occupation ‘going rate’ threshold for each sponsored job with a standard occupational classification code will increase in accordance with the median full-time wage for equivalent jobs in 2023
- The Health and Care Worker Visa is exempt from the increase to the minimum salary threshold. However, overseas care workers will be stopped from bringing dependants to the UK on dependant visas and social care firms in England who wish to sponsor care worker visas will need to be providing services regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
- The shortage occupation list will be reformed and renamed as the immigration salary list. The Migration Advisory Committee will review the jobs on the list and reduce the number given the increase in the minimum salary threshold
- The 20% discount on salary for jobs on the shortage occupation list will cease
- The Graduate Visa route will be reviewed
Health and Care Worker Visa changes
The healthcare sector has historically found it particularly hard to recruit enough care workers. This led to the introduction of the Health and Care Worker Visa to make it easier for care and nursing homes to recruit workers from overseas. With the rise in dependant visa applications, someone in the Home Office may have assessed the cost of providing schooling for minor children in the UK on Dependant Visas (potentially for up to 18 years) against the economic benefits of a Health and Care Worker Visa holder working in the care industry for 5 years before applying to settle in the UK and being free to choose their future employment.
Frustratingly, from the point of view of Sponsorship Licence lawyers, there was no in-depth consultation with sponsor licence holders or others about whether the Dependant Visa issue was a problem (other than one of perception with the 2022 net migration figures) and the alternatives. For example, Health and Care Worker Visa applicants could have been allowed to continue bringing their families on Dependant Visas but the government could have said there was a 7 or 10-year route to an indefinite leave to remain application for Health and Care Worker Visa holders or introduced an education levy (like the immigration health surcharge but only applicable to those applying for Dependant Visas for children).
The December announcements have led to a great deal of frustration for sponsor licence holders and anger from care home workers who often have only seen the headline news of no Dependant Visas for care workers. However, the new rules are a bit more nuanced:
- Care workers with standard occupational classification code 6145 and senior care workers with standard occupational classification code 6146 who are already in the UK in sponsored employment can continue to sponsor their dependants who are in the UK on Dependant Visas. This covers them applying to change sponsoring employer (provided the new job is code 6145 or 6146), to extend their Health and Care Worker Visa or applying for indefinite leave to remain
- Care workers or senior care workers in the route before the immigration rules change, but who have not yet brought dependants, will be allowed to bring dependants to the UK during their sponsorship
- People in the UK on a visa, including where the visa permits dependants, who switch to a Health and Care Worker Visa under standard occupational classification code 6145 or 6146 after the change in immigration rules will not be able to stay with or sponsor additional dependants
- Care providers who sponsored overseas workers on Health and Care Worker Visas in exclusively non-regulated activities before the immigration rules change should be able to continue to sponsor these employees if the business remains unregistered. However, the business will not be able to sponsor additional overseas workers on Health and Care Worker Visas
The Home Office factsheet says that the changes for care workers will now be introduced "as soon as possible" in 2024.
UK Online and London-Based Immigration Solicitors and Sponsorship Licence Lawyers
For work visa and business immigration advice call OTS Solicitors on 0203 959 9123 or contact us online.
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