The UK plans to tighten visa rules for immigrant workers, limit skilled visas to graduate-level jobs and aim to reduce overall immigration.
Britain prepares to tighten visa rules
The UK government, led by Prime Minister Keir Starmer, is planning to tighten visa rules to reduce the number of people who are legally entering the country to work. The move is part of a new immigration white paper aimed at fixing what the government calls a “failed free market experiment” that has allowed mass immigration in recent years.
Under the new plan, skilled workers’ visas are now only available to those applying for graduate-level jobs. Those who want to work in low-skilled roles can only obtain visas when applying for jobs that are important to the country’s industrial strategy. In short, this means only jobs that are crucial to the UK economy and jobs that are truly lacking in workers.
The Home Office said the new rules were to ensure that British businesses train and hire local workers, rather than relying on immigration training and hire local workers. A special team will be formed to examine which industries are too dependent on foreign labor.
Although the government did not mention Asians directly, it is reported that visa applications in countries such as Pakistan and Sri Lanka may be affected. The aim is to reduce the overall number of immigrants, especially after public pressure and recent local election results, the anti-immigrant party reforms in Britain performed well.
Keir Starmer is also under pressure to relieve public service pressures caused by large numbers of immigrants. The UK’s net mobility rate reached 906,000 people in the year ended June 2023. This is a huge increase from 2019 for the UK still part of the EU.
After Brexit, despite the decline in immigration in Europe, the UK has seen more people from Ukraine and Hong Kong due to special visa programs. Between 2021 and 2023, the number of dependents who are with visa holders also increased by 360%.
Interior Minister Yvette Cooper said they were trying to restore immigration orders after the last administration replaced free movement with free market regulations. But the government faces criticism for not considering how these new rules hurt businesses and do not protect visa holders from exploitation.
Conservative leader Chris Philp, on the other hand, said Labor’s plan was not strong enough. He hopes to strictly limit the number of immigrants and proposes to remove the Human Rights Act in immigration matters.
