In a Written Statement made on 30 July 2024, the Home Secretary confirmed that a number of changes introduced by the previous government will continue to be implemented, namely:
• Restricting most overseas students from bringing family members to the UK.
• Restricting the ability of care workers and senior care workers to bring dependants with them and requiring all care providers sponsoring migrants to register with the Care Quality Commission.
• Increasing the general salary threshold for those arriving on Skilled Worker visas by 48% from £26,200 to £38,700.
• Abolishing the 20% going rate discount so that employers can no longer pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations.
She also announced:
• The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) will review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules; the Minimum Income Requirement, currently set at £29,000, will not be changed until the review is complete.
• Skills England, the Industrial Strategy Council, the Labour Market Advisory Board and MAC will form ‘a new framework to support a coherent approach to skills, migration and labour market policy’. MAC will also be strengthened so it can ‘highlight key sectors where labour market failures mean there is over-reliance on international recruitment’.
• The measures announced by the previous government on 23 May 2024 regarding the regulation of the recruitment of international students, tougher compliance standards for institutions recruiting students from overseas, and raising of financial maintenance requirements, will be continued.