UK officially notifies changes to visa, immigration rules: Here are the details

LONDON - The authorities in the United Kingdom have notified the changes regarding the fresh immigration and visa rules, weeks after Premier Rishi Sunak announced them.

The Home Office published the details on Tuesday including frequently asked questions about immigration changes announced in December last year.

5 changes to the Immigration Regime

The changes available on the House of Commons Library website include the following:

• Social care workers will not be allowed to bring dependants (that is, partners and children) on their visas.
• The baseline minimum salary to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa will rise from £26,200 to £38,700 (but not for the Health and Care Worker visa, which includes social care, or for education workers on national pay scales).
• Changes to the shortage occupation list to reduce the number of jobs where it will be possible to sponsor overseas workers below the usual minimum salary (which is the main purpose of the list).
• The minimum income normally required to sponsor someone for a spouse/partner visa will rise in stages to £18,600 per year to £29,000 and ultimately around £38,700.
• The Migration Advisory Committee will review the Graduate visa, a two-year unsponsored work permit for overseas graduates of British universities.

Implementation Timeline of Changes 

The government has set the timeline for implementation of the changes under which banning newly arriving care workers from bringing immediate family will happen on 11 March 2024.

Moreover, the Skilled Worker minimum salary increase will happen on 4 April 2024 while the initial changes to the shortage occupation list will also happen in April 2024 (very likely 4 April); the Migration Advisory Committee is working on its recommendation for the new list.

The government has also announced that the spouse/partner visa minimum income will first increase to £29,000 on 11 April 2024; to around £34,500 at an unspecified time later in 2024; and finally to around £38,700 “by early 2025”.

According to an official statement, the Home Office was supposed to commission the Migration Advisory Committee to begin work on the Graduate visa review in January 2024 though it has not been done currently; the committee is expected to report in late 2024.

The government has also ruled out the possibility of any further changes in the immigration rules as revision of visa regulations is done through statements of changes to the Immigration Rules. The Government has said it intends to lay two such statements before Parliament, one on 19 February 2024 and another on 14 March 2024.

It is to be noted that the changes to the Immigration Rules take effect automatically unless either the House of Commons or House of Lords actively votes to annul them within 40 days.

As a routine, there is no vote and the Government is not obliged to make time for one in the Commons even if a motion against the changes is tabled (this can be done as an Early Day Motion).

If there is a vote on changes to the Immigration Rules, the proposed changes cannot be amended. They can either be accepted or voted down in their entirety and so no further legislation is needed.

As far as the income threshold is concerned, the government has said that those who already have a family visa within the five-year partner route, or who apply before the minimum income threshold is raised, will continue to have their applications assessed against the current income requirement and will not be required to meet the increased threshold.

The authorities have stated that people applying for permanent residence (formally known as ‘settlement’ or ‘indefinite leave to remain’) after being on a spouse/partner visa are also required to meet the minimum income rule; this exemption also appears to cover them.

It is to be clarified that when applying for the initial visa from outside the UK, only the sponsor’s income can be counted towards the minimum income threshold. For extensions and permanent residence, the income of both partners counts. People generally need to provide evidence of having earned that income for the past six months.

Regarding savings, under the current rules, the amount of savings required would automatically increase as the headline income threshold rises. If nothing in the rules were to change other than the income threshold rising to £29,000, that would push up the maximum savings required from £62,500 to £88,500. As far as the official version is concerned, there has been no announcement about this either way and the Government may not have decided on the appropriate level of savings.

Under the new rules, the minimum income increase also applies to foreign members of the armed forces who want to sponsor a spouse/partner visa.

The government has also clarified that 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.