The UK government announced a raft of measures to reduce work immigration for less skilled roles and prioritise training British workforce for such jobs in its Immigration White Paper in May which we outlined here. The first of these changes have been drafted, spelling major changes to who employers can bring to the UK on work visas from 22 July 2025 and how.
An accompanying news release from the Home Office announces that the new Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 997, 1 July 2025) sees “skills and salary thresholds rise, overseas recruitment for care workers end, and more than 100 occupations no longer granted access to the immigration system.” You can find our full analysis of this first tranche of changes for work visas which are implemented on 22 July here.
The big change is raising the minimum skills threshold to sponsor workers on Britain’s main post-Brexit work visa, the Skilled Worker visa, from Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) Level 3 (the equivalent of A-level or school-leaver) to RQF6 (degree level in skill rather than educational attainment). This means 111 occupations can no longer be sponsored from abroad on a new Skilled Worker visas as they are no longer deemed skilled enough.
Those already on Skilled Worker visas before 22 July 2025 may still switch sponsor, renew their visa and carry out supplementary employment all at RQF3 and above, according to the rules in place prior to 22 July.
Otherwise, there is a temporary fix for some RQF3+ roles in a new interim Temporary Shortage List which the Department for Business and Trade and His Majesty’s Treasury has compiled of jobs that are needed for the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy. The UK Government’s 10-year Modern Industrial Strategy policy paper recently revealed eight sectors – the IS-8 – it says have the highest potential for growth: advanced manufacturing, creatives, life sciences, clean energy, defence, technology, financial services and professional services such as accounting and legal. The list here suggests a rather flexible interpretation.
The Immigration Salary List, with its 20% discount on the general minimum salary threshold for sponsoring skilled workers will be phased out, but for now it has a couple more jobs added to it, also allowing a temporary reprieve for employers. Occupations are on both lists only until 31 December 2026, by which time sectors will have been expected to have developed workforce strategies to train local workforce to fill some of these skills gaps. As there will be no more new visas for carers and senior carers from abroad from 22 July, there are transitional measures for those in these adult social care roles already in the UK up to the end of 2028.
You can see the full lists here.
Please contact our immigration lawyers to discuss these and other UK immigration matters as the current tranche of changes will affect who you can employ from abroad and how.
NB: The Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has commissioned reviews of these lists, as well as salary thresholds to sponsor workers. The jobs on the lists and any salary threshold discounts are up for review, as well as the wider issue of minimum salaries for sponsored work visas which have been hiked up massively over the past year.
The 60 critical shortage occupations on the Temporary Shortage List below the required skill level of RQF6 will still be able to be sponsored for now. Skills and training strategies will be expected to eventually fill such gaps in the labour market with resident workers and the reviews will want to see evidence of both skills shortages crucial to the UK government’s recently announced Modern Industrial Strategy and sectoral bodies’ workforce strategies tackling these.
Workers sponsored on the list will not be able to bring family members dependent on their visas. These visas may or may not entail a route to settlement – though routes to UK settlement and citizenship are also set to be reviewed over the next few months.
The Immigration Salary List is expected to be phased out in future changes to Immigration Rules.
There is no mention currently of any differences in the route to Indefinite Leave to Remain (or settlement) or indeed citizenship for Skilled Workers sponsored on the Temporary Shortage List. The consultation and review of the route to settlement over the next few months will be followed by rules changes, so it is not unusual that there are no changes as yet mentioned for those on the Temporary Shortage List. If time spent on a route to settlement is increased from five to ten years for some migrants as was trailed in the government’s recent Immigration White Paper then some on this route may not be able to reach the full ten years if they cannot renew their visa when occupations drop off the list. If everything stays the same they may be able to qualify after five years, but we will be keenly awaiting further changes to the UK settlement and citizenship rules.
Find the full Temporary Shortage and Immigration Salary lists here