UK Set For Tougher Visa Rules For Foreign Workers, To Impact Indians

In a major step to cut down on migration, the UK government has announced a new, 'radical' plan which will now bar foreign workers from bringing their family members as their dependants.

The development comes after the release of the official numbers which revealed that the net migration had soared to a record 745,000 in 2022.

In the House of Commons, UK Home Secretary James Cleverly opened up on the government's plan for an immigration crackdown, which will also impact Indians, and medics on Health and Care visas as they will no longer be able to bring any family members with them.

For individuals applying through alternative skilled worker visa pathways, the application's salary threshold will increase from the existing GBP 26,200 to GBP 38,700. This identical salary requirement will also apply to those seeking a family visa, presently set at GBP 18,600.

"Immigration policy must be fair, consistent, legal, and sustainable," Cleverly told the Parliament. "In total, this package plus our reduction in student dependants will mean around 300,000 fewer people will come in future years than have come to the UK last year," he said.

The five-point plan laid out by the minister will come to effect in the first half of 2024.

It has to be noted that former minister Suella Braverman had tabled in May, which banned international students from bringing dependant family members unless they are on postgraduate courses designated as a research programme.

Cleverly stated his intention to request the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to assess the Graduate Route visa "to prevent abuse and safeguard the integrity and quality of UK higher education." This suggests that a comparable scrutiny of dependents on that post-study route might also be imminent.

In addition to it, Sunak's 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 entails eliminating the 20 per cent discount associated with the minimum salary for individuals seeking a visa for shortage occupations listed on the Migration Advisory Committee's (MAC) Shortage Occupation List. The list of job types will undergo a thorough review and reduction.

Going by the official data, India dominates the tally of skilled workers, medical professionals and students from overseas. While the Health and Care visa figures registered a 76 per cent rise in Indian applicants, the Skilled Worker route saw a small decline of 11 per cent to drop from 20,360 visas in the year ending September 2022 to 18,107 in the year ending this September, according to a report in PTI.

As far as the student visa category is concerned, Indian nationals continued to represent the largest group of students granted leave to remain on the relatively new post-study Graduate visa route, representing 43 per cent of grants.

Moreover, in the year ending September 2023, there were 133,237 sponsored study visa grants to Indian nationals, reflecting a modest rise of 5,804 (+5 per cent) in comparison to the year ending September 2022.

Among the dependant visas, Indian nationals ranked second in the number of dependants, following Nigeria. The figures surged from 2,127 to 43,445 in the year ending September 2023.