This subject just close to home. As the sponsoring partner to a foreign person living in the UK, this topic is one that is particularly sensitive.

These visa rules that are being brought in this year are definitely going to do what they’ve been designed to do. It’s lucky that I got in while I could since as a regular person who also lived abroad for some time, the chances of me getting a job while still abroad that paid £38,700 were slim to none!

So what’s changing?

Social care workers will not be allowed to bring dependants (that is, partners and children) on their visa.

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.

More info here

Luckily for me it doesn’t affect people who are already here and on the 5 year route, like Hillary is. But it will sadly affect people who plan to come after 11 April 2024.

My focus here is on the 4th one in the list. The income threshold. It’s going to double! It’s a little strange since the median income in the UK isn’t even that high, why would they make it so high for the family visa?

It’s not that the salary is impossible to earn, but it’s a little high as a baseline for people who are coming back to the UK presumably after being away for some time and getting married abroad etc. In my case, I was in China. It feels like my skills and experience gained there don’t directly transfer to jobs in my city back home so I had to start from scratch. This is a similar situation for a lot of people who weren’t ‘sent’ to abroad by their employer but rather went abroad to look for work.

Do you know of anyone who will be affected by this?

This has been brought about because of research that suggests the population could reach 74 million by 2036? Also the general news saying that the rate of immigration to the UK is too high.

Thoughts?