UK Business Immigration – The Government’s White Paper: “Restoring Control Over the Immigration System” and Other Policy Changes

On 12 May 2025 the government published a white paper setting out wide ranging proposals which it says are intended to “restore order, control and fairness to the system, bring down net migration and promote economic growth”. These proposals and accompanying policy changes will have a significant impact on UK employers. Key themes include:

• Linking immigration with domestic skills and training requirements to reduce over reliance on overseas labour
• A renewed focus on enforcement including a targeted ‘crackdown’ on illegal working

On 1 July, the Home Secretary announced imminent changes to the Immigration Rules coming into force from 22 July 2025, including:

• Increase in the Skilled Worker skills threshold including minimum salary thresholds
• Introduction of the new Temporary Shortage List
• Closure to the social care worker visa route

In addition to the white paper, other immigration changes including the expansion of right to work checks and issues we have seen with the full digitisation of the UK immigration system were also reviewed during the session.

In this webinar, Annabel Mace, May Cheung and Carine Elliott discussed:

• The impact of the new changes due to come in on 22 July 2025 and how these affect sponsors and their employees
• The strategic approaches for employers in relation to key white paper proposals which are yet to come in, including:
• Higher English language thresholds and the new requirement for dependants
• Increase in qualifying period for eligibility to apply for settlement from 5 to 10 years
• Skills Charge increases
• The expansion of the illegal working regime to cover non-employed workers, sub-contractors and gig-economy workers
• Issues with the transition to a fully digital immigration system including evisas and new biometric technologies

View the presentation materials from this webinar.