The United Kingdom government has unveiled a new five-point plan to slash immigration, sparking outrage among migrant groups and human rights activists. The plan, announced by Home Secretary James Cleverly, aims to deter foreign workers from coming to the UK by imposing harsher visa rules and restrictions.
Under the new plan, care workers will be banned from bringing their families to the UK, and the minimum salary for a skilled worker visa will be raised from £25,600 to £38,700. The plan also tightens the rules on family visas, the shortage occupation list, and student visas.
Mr Cleverly defended the plan as “more robust” than any previous government’s stance on migration, saying it was necessary to protect the British economy and public services. He said: “We are taking back control of our borders and delivering on the will of the British people. We want to attract the best and brightest talent to the UK, but we also want to ensure that our immigration system is fair and sustainable.”
However, the plan has been met with fierce criticism from migrant groups and human rights activists, who say it is cruel, discriminatory, and counterproductive. They argue that the plan will harm the UK’s reputation as a welcoming and diverse country, and that it will deprive the UK of vital workers and skills.
One of the critics is Maria Gonzalez, a care worker from Spain who has been living and working in the UK for five years. She said: “This plan is a slap in the face for me and thousands of other care workers who have been risking our lives to look after the elderly and vulnerable during the pandemic. We are not allowed to bring our families here, and we are not paid enough to qualify for a skilled worker visa. How can they treat us like this?”
The new five point plans are:
• Health and care visas: Overseas care workers will not be able to bring family dependants, to end the “abuse of the health and care visa”. Care firms that want to sponsor people for visa applications will need to be regulated by the Care Quality Commission;
• Skilled worker visa minimum salary change: The threshold for an application will rise to £38,700 – although health and care workers will still be able to earn less before applying for the route;
• Shortage occupation list: The 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 will include axing the 20% discount applied to the minimum salary for people looking for a visa for shortage occupations. The types of jobs on the list will also be reviewed and reduced;
• Family visas: The minimum threshold for a family visa will also be raised to £38,700 to “ensure people only bring dependants whom they can support financially”. Currently, it stands at the 2012 rate of £18,600;
• Student visas: Following the tightening of who can bring in family members on student visas earlier this year, the government will ask the Migration Advisory Committee to review the graduate route “to prevent abuse and protect the integrity and quality of UK higher education”.
