UK Visa and Immigration Policy Changes

The Home Office have released a factsheet including further details on the scheduled visa policy changes anticipated to be introduced in ‘Spring 2024’. A summary of these details can be found below. 

Skilled Worker Route 

• The general salary threshold for the Skilled Worker visa will rise from £26,200 to £38,700 and is due to be implemented in April 2024. 
• The ‘going rate’ thresholds for individual occupations, will increase from the 25^th percentile of earnings for individual occupations, to the 50^th percentile of earnings for individual occupations. We await the revised list of ‘going rate’ thresholds to be published.   
• Individuals who obtain a Skilled Worker visa before new salary requirements are introduced will be exempt from meeting new salary levels when they change sponsor, extend, or settle. However, individuals will be required to meet the updated 25th percentiles using the latest pay data when they next make an application to change employment, extend their stay, or settle.  
• The Shortage Occupation list (SOL) will be abolished, and a new ‘Immigration Salary List’ will replace the SOL however this will no longer permit a 20% salary concession.  

There remains outstanding information which awaits the next level of policy from the Home Office before we can provide guidance on the impact these changes will have to new and existing colleagues applying under the affected visa route, these include: 

• Whether the tradeable point options [for recent graduates, those with PhDs relevant to jobs, and those working in postdoctoral positions in higher education] will remain. 
• If tradeable points are retained, what the minimum salary requirement for these will be.  
• Which roles will be published on the Immigration Salary List and what the function of this list will be, now the 20% salary concession has been removed. 

Dependent Route 

• UK nationals and those with UK settlement will meet the Minimum Income Requirement (MIR) of £29,000 per annum from ‘Spring 2024’ to bring overseas family members to the UK under the Family Visa route. This will rise to £34,500 per annum (‘likely later in 2024’) and then to £38,700 per annum ‘in early 2025’. Source for cited dates here. 

Graduate Route 

The Home Office will commission the MAC to review the graduate route this month but expect this to continue ‘until late 2024’.