Insight

Immigration White Paper

Yesterday, the Government published its much-anticipated Immigration White Paper, outlining plans to impose tougher regulations, making it harder for people to secure settlement and citizenship in the UK, and hoping that by “taking back control of our borders” it can counter the rising threat posed by Reform UK and tackle the long-standing political dilemma of record immigration levels.

The Prime Minister delivered a speech setting out the new measures, pledging to drive down net migration by the end of this Parliament but, perhaps wisely, refusing to commit to targets. Starmer asserted that his government will reshape the UK’s immigration system to prioritise those who contribute to economic growth, with restrictions across all forms of visas, to end the “squalid chapter” of immigration under the Conservatives.

A major focus of this new approach is to boost domestic training, including for key sectors such as care workers. As a result, requirements will be introduced to ensure employers support UK citizens into work rather than relying on international recruitment. Universities meanwhile will be encouraged to end what the Prime Minister suggested was an over-reliance on foreign students.

The Government says it is going further to ensure that almost only those applying for graduate-level roles will be able to come to the UK, with targeted routes for the “brightest and best global talent.” This includes creating faster routes for recruiting people with the right skills for industries such as engineering and AI.

Starmer has also unveiled a new stronger English language requirement across a broader range of immigration routes for both main applicants and their dependants, including an assessment of improvements over time. Setting out this new provision, he stated: “People should commit to integration and learning our language. And the system should distinguish between those that do and those that don’t. That’s fair. Britain must compete for the best talent in the world.”

The Prime Minister anticipated that others would “try to make this all about politics”; which they promptly did. While the Conservatives and Reform criticised Starmer’s pledge to reduce immigration as lacking integrity, the SNP described the provisions as “divisive,” and those on the far left have labelled the paper “dehumanising.” But the Government will hope that these tighter measures will help not only tackle the number of people coming into the country, but also help prove to voters that Labour can be a serious political force on some of the most pressing issues facing the UK.

Key policies in the 82-page blueprint, titled Restoring Control over the Immigration System, include the following:

• Reducing immigration figures by around 100,000 per year, according to Home Office modelling
• Ensuring that employers are incentivised to invest in boosting domestic talent, including options to restrict employers from sponsoring skilled visas if they are not committed to increasing skills training.
• Increasing the Immigration Skills Charge for the first time since its introduction in 2017, by 32% in line with inflation.
• Raising the required skill level for skilled workers back to RQF Level 6 and above.
• Introducing tighter restrictions on recruitment for jobs with skills shortages.
• Establishing the Labour Market Evidence Group to make informed decisions about the state of the labour market and the role different policies should play, rather than relying on migration.
• Reforming automatic residency rights so that the time a person must have spent in the UK to qualify will be extended from five to ten years.
• Limiting access to the points-based immigration system to occupations with long-term shortages, on a time-limited basis, where the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) has advised it is justified, where there is a workforce strategy in place, and where employers seeking to recruit from abroad are committed to increasing recruitment from the domestic workforce.
• Reducing the wait for residence based on a “contributions-based model,” including the consistency of tax payments or evidence of working in public services or highly skilled private sector jobs.
• Including English language requirements across all immigration routes.
• Restricting care providers from hiring workers from overseas by closing social care visas.
• Strengthening border security by requiring Digital IDs for overseas citizens.
• Ensuring skilled worker visas require a university degree.
• Reducing the ability for graduates to remain in the UK after their studies to a period of 18 months.
• Exploring a levy on higher education provider income from international students, to be reinvested into skills.
• Allowing some UNHCR-recognised refugees and displaced people with the right skills to apply through the skilled worker route.
• Opening more routes for highly skilled immigrants to bring global talent to the UK.
• Simplifying processes to remove foreign national offenders.
• Providing more resources to tackle illegal working, especially in the gig economy.