Health worker relatives face visa crackdown in package to reduce migration
Dependants of healthcare workers moving to the UK for work face a visa crackdown under Government plans to bring down migration figures.
The minimum salary for people moving to the country for work will also be hiked by more than £10,000 a year.
Home Secretary James Cleverly is due to unveil a package of measures today which Downing Street said would bring down net migration.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman said Mr Cleverly would discuss plans to tackle “abuse in the system” and said family dependents was one area it would focus on.
Mr Cleverly is also expected to announce the minimum salary requirement for a skilled worker from overseas will be increased from £26,200 a year to £38,000, according to reports.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to “do what is necessary” to bring down net migration in the wake of an official estimate saying levels had peaked at 745,000 in 2020.
No10 said the Government is “committed to what was set out in the manifesto which is to reduce net migration”.
He would not go into details of the announcement on Monday but said “there is evidence of abuse in the system and that’s what we will clamp down on” following changes introduced “over successive years”.
The spokesman would not say whether NHS and healthcare workers would be subject to the same salary caps as other workers.
On healthcare in particular, he said: “Workers from overseas are an important part of the NHS mix, they do an important role. I think what we have seen as a significant growth in particular independence for those working in health and care sectors.
“That’s something we have been considering and the Home Secretary will talk to that this afternoon.”
The number of dependents that social care workers are permitted to bring into Britain will also be reduced in the package, according to reports.
The changes will raise concerns about how the key roles will be filled if migrants are either prevented or dissuaded from coming.
But the No10 spokesman said the package was “about striking the right balance” and said these dependents were not always working themselves.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman added: “We do believe there is a significant pool of people who can be assisted back into the workforce.”
The salary figure Mr Cleverly will set out is reported to be lower than the £40,000 in the deal Mr Sunak allegedly agreed with former home secretary Suella Braverman. She, and immigration minister Robert Jenrick had pushed for the cap to go even higher, to £45,000.
Mr Sunak has been under growing pressure from Tory MPs after the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revised its net migration figure to put 2022 at a record high of 745,000.
Detailing the difference between the number of people arriving in the country and leaving, the figure for the year to June 2023 is estimated to have been slightly lower, at 672,000.
The Prime Minister has sought to blame the “very large numbers” on his predecessors, saying he had “inherited” the levels.
They stand three times higher than before Brexit despite the 2019 Tory election manifesto promising to bring overall numbers down.
He is also facing a challenge to deliver his pledge to “stop the boats” crossing the Channel, after his flagship asylum policy was deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court.
Mr Cleverly is expected to head to Kigali to finalise a new treaty with Rwanda this week, which ministers hope will help convince judges otherwise.
