New UK Visa And Immigration Policy : August 2024
New UK Visa And Immigration Policy : The new government in the UK, that is a Labour government has come in. It has been there for the past few weeks and there have been some really big changes that have come as a result of this government. Now, obviously, as you know that whenever any government comes into action in any country that are going to be several massive expectations from the local people and from people all over the world in terms of economy, immigration, but also the general sustenance.And the Labour government hasn’t really inherited UK in a good way because obviously there are ongoing cost of living crisis, but also recession and NHS strikes.
And in today’s post I will be detailing what are some of the changes the Labour government has planned for student visas, work visas and all of the people who are planning to come into the UK. So if you are somebody who is planning to come to the UK either on study or work reasons or as somebody who is a dependent, then this post is for you. Because in today’s post we will be discussing all details related to changes in policy and what you can be expecting in the next few months.
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Student visa
Firstly let’s talk about the student visa now as a part of the conservative strategy. So the government that was before the Labour government which was under Rishi Sunak, obviously they felt that students led to a lot of increased migration in the UK. And to bring those numbers down, they suggested that students who were coming for bachelor’s and master’s degree would not be allowed to get their dependents. That is your wife or your husband and your children along with you. Now, the only exception to this rule was that if you are coming to study a master’s in research program, would you be allowed to get your dependents along with you.
Now, in terms of this, there has been no massive change. The labour government is sticking to the plan to reduce the total number of students and their dependents so as to reduce the net migration. So again, no clear updates have been put out about it, but hopefully they are sticking to the plan. And so this rule is going to stay.
Post-study Work Visa (PSW)
The second visa category that I want to talk about is the PSW. Â Now, as a part of this visa category, students, whether they completed their masters or their bachelors, were allowed to Stay for up to two years in the UK and find employment. So once you complete your term on your student visa, you are allowed to transition to the PSW and search for employability.
Now, because you are on the switch, you would not need a work or a job that was sponsored by any company within the UK. Now this obviously worked in the favour of students because a students might have not had a lot of experience in the fields that they completed their masters or bachelors in, and this gave them the opportunity to build those skills, learn those skills and land roles with sponsorships in the future. However, there was a lot of conversation about reducing the PSW from two years to six months. This created a lot of anxiety among students, and that has now been resolved because the labour government has said that they are not going to do any massive changes to this at the minute, but they are going to monitor the situation to see how this progresses in the future.
So Students who are planning to come in September 24th intake and Jan 25 intake, you do not need to be stressed or anxious. The current rules will still apply to you and you will be offered a swab of up to two years.
Work visa
Third category that I want to speak about is the work visa. Now, as a part of the skilled worker visa route, the government that is the conservative government of Rishi Sunak had made several changes, one of which was obviously increasing the minimum salary threshold. So that used to be around £28,000 earlier, but it has now gone up to nearly £38,700, which is a big jump and actually a bit questionable because the average salary in the UK is 33,000. So what this would do is actually deter people from making that sort of move to the UK, because they wouldn’t be able to land these jobs in the UK, because landing such jobs would actually be impossible.
Now, again, if you are a healthcare professional, this rule would not apply for you. If you are coming as a healthcare professional, that is a doctor, a nurse, allied health professional that is physio or lab technicians etc. but if you were coming under the general rule, then salary thresholds that you now need to meet are obviously 38,700. Some positive news around this is that the labour government is actually looking into reviewing these thresholds.
Now again, this could be a positive news because what might happen is that they might realize that these thresholds are really high. And so they are going to try and drive these thresholds a bit more lower. But it could also go the other way where obviously they feel that they want to increase the thresholds, even though that might seem a really unreasonable move at this stage. So like I said, this is a sort of 50 over 50 situation.But for me it honestly looks like a bit more positive. And that’s why I would keep my mind filled with positive thoughts.
Worst news about the skilled worker visa: Skill improvement plans
For all you , the worst news about the skilled worker visa and the health and care worker visa generally that I want to share in this post, though, is the fact that the labour government has said that it is going to introduce skill improvement plans. Now, what are skill improvement plans? Well, the short form of it is that it’s going to train the people in the UK to start performing roles where there are existing shortages in the UK.
Now, I’m going to be honest, this was in conversation over the last few years, and the Labour government and the conservative governments have been thinking about this for a long time. But again, if I am going to be completely honest with you, I feel that. Building up a skill is going to take a lot of time in terms of education, qualification and experience. But like I said, the skills improvement plan is a bad news. But it is a silver lining for people who are in the right time and are going to grab this opportunity to come to the UK.
Carers visa
Next update is a bit of an update about the carers visa. Now let me remind you that in order to be a carer in the UK, you do not need a qualified degree. And so a lot of people who are coming to the UK were really exploiting this pathway. They had seen a nearly 76% rise in the number of carers coming to the UK.  UK government has taken a decision to obviously reduce the number of people coming on this visa. So one of the things that they’ve done is reduce the number of dependents.
So there are no dependents allowed on the carrier visa, which I think has been a bit of a positive impact because now the number of carers coming to the UK have reduced. This rule has obviously been looked, and it’s not going to change any time in the near future. So if you are planning to come under this route, do remember that you will not be allowed to get any family members along with you, whether it is your spouse or your child.
Immigration updates
Finally, I want to talk to you briefly about some of the immigration updates. As you were aware, in the last sort of six months or so, the IHS, which is the immigration health surcharge has gone up. The immigration health surcharge allows you to access the NHS while you are in the UK. You need to pay this fee along with your student visa, work visa or any other application. However, in the last few months they have seen a sudden boom or a sudden increase in the fees and nowadays it is nearly about £1,000 for just about a year.
So if you are issuing your work visa for three years, that’s going to be 1000 into 3000, which is not an easy amount to bear because that would nearly come up to three lakh rupees. Now, again, I just want to make you aware about this because an easier route out of this, if you are a healthcare professional, is applying for the health and care worker visa.
if you are somebody who is within the healthcare profession and has been offered a role in the UK, I would advise you to go back to your company and make sure that they right, that your occupation falls under the health and care worker visa category, especially if it falls. So do make sure you’ve checked that before, but if you’ve made sure that it does, check out under the Health and Care Worker visa category, you can go back to your company and make sure that is written on your COS letter, which is your certificate of sponsorship. And once that is mentioned there, you will be exempt from paying the fees because that is the current regulations. Right now, anybody who’s applying under the Health and Care Worker visa scheme does not need to pay for the IHS, so do make sure that that stays in your mind. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments below.
UK immigration updates 2024: Will Starmer make it harder for you to get a job there?
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