Rather like the endless summer rain we have been experiencing, there has been a deluge of immigration changes over the course of this year. With a new government in place, more developments are on the horizon. This update takes you through Labour's plans for immigration and some other key immigration issues to keep an eye on over the coming months, relating to the phase out of biometric residence permits and changes to the EU Settlement Scheme.
What are the new Labour government's plans for Immigration?
With Yvette Cooper taking the reins at the Home Office, we should soon see what the new Labour government plans are for tackling net migration.
Work based Migration
With net migration hitting record highs at the end of last year, the work based migration system has already undergone significant changes already in 2024. The previous Conservative government introduced increases in the salary thresholds for skilled worker visas and overhauled the shortage occupation list (now known as the Immigration Salary List).
The sense is that many industries are now struggling to recruit for roles as they are no longer eligible for skilled worker visas and find the high costs of sponsorship too much to manage.
Labour's plans
The Labour Party manifesto suggest they are contemplating an overhaul of the work based immigration system. Importantly, they have suggested that they will instruct the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the salary thresholds which were introduced this April with potential this could lead to changes later down the line.
Labour has indicated that they plan to 'make sure British businesses are helped to hire Brits first" and will attempt to stop businesses relying on overseas workers to fill skills shortages Stephen Kinnock, who served as shadow immigration minister, has suggested that Labour would also reintroduce the resident labour market test (RLMT) which ensured that businesses had to try and recruit local workers, before they resorted to sponsorship. If the RLMT is brought back it would certainly introduce further complexity to the skilled worker visa process and lengthen processing times.
The MAC is a focal point of the Labour party's immigration strategy. It will link to other bodies involved in setting the industrial and skills agenda to better determine the sectors who would benefit from migrant workers. The aim will be to upskill, train and improve conditions for resident workers, therefore reducing the demand for overseas recruitment.
Sensibly Labour have declined to set a specific net migration target, their reasoning being any statistic would be "arbitrary" but they will have an overall goal of reducing migration into the UK.
Sponsorship
All sponsor licence holders have to ensure that they meet their sponsorship duties or they risk losing their licence. Over recent years there has been a sharp drop in the number of audits carried out by the Home Office and enforcement has largely been taken off the agenda.
This has changed recently with sponsor licence suspensions hitting a 10 year high. Between January and March 2024, the Home Office suspended 309 Skilled Worker sponsor licences and revoked 210. This represents a much higher level of enforcement activity than at any point since Brexit.
This has been driven in large part by concerns about abuse of the sponsorship system within the care sector and a large number of the revocations and suspensions have been in this sector.
Labour's plans
Labour has been clear that it will crack down on Sponsors who breach employment law, barring employers from sponsorship who flout the law. Overall the Labour manifesto speaks to an intention to make it more difficult to get a sponsor license and also a wish to limit the ability of employers to hire sponsored workers if they are not upskilling resident workers. It is therefore clear that the emphasis on enforcement action is likely to continue.
Student migration and the graduate route
In July 2021 the unsponsored Graduate route was launched which enabled those graduating from a UK degree to obtain a two year visa to allow them to work in the UK after graduation. The Migration Advisory Committee carried out a review of the route earlier this year - prompted by claims of potential abuse of the visa route – and recommended that the Graduate visa would remain in place for now
Labour's plans
Labour has remained silent on the Graduate visa route review, and seemingly have no current plans to scrap the scheme.
Immigration fees
Costs for a skilled worker visa have increased significantly in recent years. Application fees rose last year and the immigration health surcharge (IHS) increased in February from £624 a year to £1035 a year. Couple with the other associated costs (English language tests, Biometrics appointments, etc) sponsoring a migrant worker is a significant financial investment for an employer.
Labour's plans
Labour has not explicitly said they would change the level of Immigration fees. However, statements made by Stephen Kinnock, while he was Shadow Minister of Immigration during a debate over the IHS in January, show that this could be a potential area of change. Concerns were raised in this debate over how IHS was being spent, Universities losing fees due to students being unable to afford the increasing immigration costs and the system being "unfair" to lower paid workers who are unable to afford the lump sum costs of immigration applications.
Care workers
After the rise in the number of people coming to the UK to take up care roles following the introduction of the Health and Care worker visa in 2022, recent months have seen numbers decrease significantly. This may in part be due to the ban on care workers bringing dependents to the UK on skilled worker visas which came into force in March 2024.
Labour's plans
Labour have promised to focus on cutting down abuse of workers within the care sector. They have announced plans to launch an investigation into the exploitation of the visa system and care workers, and the greater focus on compliance is in part due to the need to expose sponsors who are abusing the system. This may lead to further suspensions and revocations of licences and an increase in Home Office visits.
Phasing out of Biometric Residence Permit
The Home Office intends to replace physical documents with an online record of a migrant worker's immigration status in its push for a purely digital immigration system by 2025.
Biometric Residence Permit (BRP), the little plastic card that many visa holders carry, are all due to expire on 31st December 2024. This does not mean the holder's visa status will come to end. The cards are being phased out and holders will be required to apply for an eVisa before the end of the year.
What is an eVisa?
An eVisa is an electronic record of a person's immigration status. It will show details of their immigration status such as type of permission, expiry date and conditions of stay in the UK.
The Home Office's aims are that, by digitisation of the immigration system, visa holders will be able share their immigration status information without the need to carry a physical document, which may be at risk of being lost, stolen or tampered with. Visa applicants will also no longer need to leave their passport with the Home Office after a biometric appointment or collect a BRP once they arrive in the UK. With system to system checks, visa holders can also access UK government services such as the DWP or NHS without having to present proof of their immigration status.
When are eVisas launching?
For British passport holders and Irish citizens, there is nothing you need to do.
For people who applied for their visa through the EU Settlement Scheme or the "UK Immigration: ID Check" app have already have an eVisa (a digital proof of their immigration status).
For existing holder of Biometric Residence Permits, they will, or may have already, received an email with instructions on how to create UKVI accounts. The process is expected to be opened to all BRP holders at some point this summer at www.gov.uk/evisa.
The Home Office has produced advice including videos and regularly updated content on gov.uk on the implementation of eVisas throughout 2024.
All BRP holders will need to obtain an eVisa before the start of 2025 to be able to evidence their status and to travel in and out of the UK.
How does eVisas work?
The eVisa will be linked to a person's passport in their UKVI account. Therefore, it is imperative that the passport or ID cards details in the UKVI account are kept up to date at all times.
Visa holders will still need to carry their passport with them. If they have a new passport and are waiting for a confirmation that their UKVI account has been updated, they should carry the expired passport with them.
Currently, for BRP holders, until the end of the year they should keep taking their BRP with them when they travel to be able to prove their immigration status. However, in 2025, how individuals prove their immigration status will change to the eVisa.
What about people with stamps in their passport?
Some individuals still evidence their right to live and work in the UK via a stamp in their passport. For instance some visa holders will have an old stamp in an expired passport demonstrating that they have indefinite leave to remain.
They will still be required to apply for an eVisa but are going to have to apply for a biometric residence permit first of all. You can apply for a BRP on GOV.UK.
What do employers need to do?
At this stage, if your right to work checks have been correctly carried out and you have diarised the correct expiry dates for your workers, then there is nothing to do at this stage. If you have diarised the expiry date for your BRP holders as 31st December 2024, you will need to carry out new right to work checks to obtain their actual expiry dates.
You should also consider providing your employees with advice and pointers on the need to register for an eVisa as we move towards the end of the year. The risk is that some visa holders may have issues re-entering the UK in early 2025 if they have travelled over Christmas and not applied for an eVisa in advance.
Changes to EU Settlement Scheme
On the 21st May 2024 the Home Office announced changes to the EU Settlement Scheme ("EUSS"). These changes will ensure that individuals who have been granted pre-settled status under the EUSS can continue to easily prove their right to work in the UK.
Last year it was announced that anyone with pre-settled status would be given an automatic extension of two years to their visa once it came to expiry. The Home Office has now confirmed that they will change the duration of pre-settled status extensions from 2 to 5 years. This will not impact anyone who already has settled status or has since become a British citizen.
Pre-settled status holders will not have to take any steps as a result of this change, rather, they will be contacted by the Home Office when their digital status has been updated to reflect the extension. If you are a pre-settled status holder, please continue to monitor your email for communications from the Home Office with this information.
Additionally, pre-settled status expiry dates will also be removed from the digital profiles shown to third parties. Individuals with pre-settled status will not have to take any steps in relation to this change and existing employees will not require any further right to work checks.
If you would like any further help or advice about the information in this publication or anything immigration related, please contact Joanna Hunt.
