Home Secretary statement on migration

The statement includes new reforms which will link migration policy, visa controls and labour market policies:

• the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), Skills England, the Industrial Strategy Council, and the Labour Market Advisory Board will work together to support a coherent approach to skills, migration and labour market policy, engaging and working closely with the Devolved governments
• the government will commission the MAC to review the reliance on international recruitment in key sectors, commencing with IT and engineering
• the government will provide additional resources to the MAC to enable it to work more strategically to forecast future trends.

The statement confirms that the government will keep some policy changes made earlier this year by the previous administration, including:

• restricting most overseas students from bringing family members to the UK 
• restricting the ability of care workers and senior care workers to bring dependants with them; and requiring all care providers sponsoring migrants in England to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC)
• increasing the general salary threshold for those arriving on Skilled Worker visas by 48 per cent from £26,200 to £38,700
• abolishing the 20 per cent going rate discount so that employers can no longer pay migrants less than UK workers in shortage occupations
• introducing measures announced on 23 May to reduce the potential for abuse on the student and graduate visa routes, working closely with the Department for Education to ensure the measures are effective.

The government will be commissioning the MAC to review the financial requirements in the Family Immigration Rules, keeping the minimum income requirement in the Spouse/Partner route at £29,000 until the review is complete. 

Read the full statement via the parliamentary website.