UK Announces Tougher Visa Rules, Increases Minimum Salary Threshold, Health Surcharge, Others

Eko Hot Blog the United Kingdom (UK) has announced a new set of rules aimed at reducing migration into the country.

The UK Home Secretary, James Cleverly, disclosed the new set of rules on Monday on the floor of Parliament.

According to Cleverly, the United Kingdom is set to raise the minimum salary requirement for obtaining a skilled worker visa. Currently set at £26,000, the new threshold will be increased to £38,700.

Cleverly further stated that the implementation of the rules in the previous year could have resulted in a decrease of 300,000 migrants annually.

According to the home secretary, those coming on health and social care visas will be exempted from the higher salary threshold.

“We will ensure people only bring dependents whom they can support financially, by raising the minimum income for family visas to the same threshold as the minimum salary threshold for Skilled Workers, £38,700,” he said.

However, overseas caregivers will no longer be permitted to bring dependents, such as their partners and children.

The inference is that until their new spouse earns £38,700, a UK person who marries a non-UK citizen cannot bring them to live in the UK.

The five measures are:

• Health and care visas: Overseas care workers will not be able to bring family dependants, to end the “abuse of the health and care visa”. Care firms that want to sponsor people for visa applications will need to be regulated by the Care Quality Commission. A dependant is defined by the government as a husband or wife, civil partner or unmarried partner, and children under 18.

•Skilled worker visa minimum salary change:The threshold for an application will rise by nearly 50% from £26,200 to £38,700 – although health and care workers will still be able to earn less before applying for the route.

• Shortage occupation list: The government wants to “scrap cut-price shortage labour from overseas” by reforming the way people working in short-staffed sectors can apply to come to the UK. This will include axing the 20% discount applied to the minimum salary for people looking for a visa for shortage occupations. The types of jobs on the list will also be reviewed and reduced.

• Family visas: The minimum threshold for a family visa will also be raised to £38,700 to “ensure people only bring dependants whom they can support financially”. Currently, it stands at the 2012 rate of £18,600.

• Student visas: Following the tightening of who can bring in family members on student visas earlier this year, the government will ask the Migration Advisory Committee to review the graduate route “to prevent abuse and protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education”.

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