The government has tightened up visa requirements for certain migrant worker routes, including those in health and care. Oliver O’Sullivan considers how this might impact a labour force in limbo. 

The Home Office published a statement of changes to the Immigration Rules on 12 March 2025 in which small, but impactful amendments were made to current visa routes, particularly for employers who sponsor health and care workers under the Skilled Worker visa category.

The Health and Care visa is a sponsored visa route that allows registered companies to employ and sponsor workers in the UK in relevant job roles.

Immigration changes

Visa rules for care sector employers tightened 

UK visa options for skilled workers in the US who need to leave 

This visa route was heavily utilised across the sector to meet shortages of workers in the UK undertaking these roles. Many companies applied to become sponsors under the Skilled Worker visa route when Home Office sponsor visits were still very infrequent.

We have spoken to many individuals who were then sponsored from overseas, but when they arrived in the UK, there was little to no work for them to do due to failings by their original sponsor.

The Home Office has dramatically increased its inspections in the past 12 months, resulting in a huge increase in the number of companies whose sponsor licences have been revoked.

The net result is an estimated 34,000 people in the UK on Skilled Worker visas but without a sponsor and unable to currently work for an employer who is not a registered sponsor.

We have a much-needed workforce, but thousands of them are unable to work due to issues outside of their control.

New resident labour market test

From 9 April 2025, sponsors will need to demonstrate that they engaged in a recruitment process to identify a suitable candidate from those who already hold a Skilled Worker Health and Care visa prior to proceeding with an application to sponsor a worker. Failing to do so could mean the visa is refused.

The Home Office will publish further guidance on what this process should look like, but we expect it to be connected to a £16m fund launched last year by the government to tackle the exploitation of social care staff.

The task of this fund is likely to be to identify and register those whose sponsorship has been revoked and to provide a platform in which to advertise vacancies.

The UK had a previous resident labour market test for the Tier 2 (General) visa, where adverts had to contain specific content and be posted for a specific amount of time, so this might be the case again.

Concessions might be made on timings since many of these workers will have already had their visas curtailed to 60 days.

The hope is that this further guidance will help to provide a workable solution for those sponsored workers who arrived in good faith to work in the health and care sector to help meet job shortages but due to no fault of their own were let down by their original sponsor.

Minimum salary increases

The minimum salary for Skilled Worker visas is jumping from £23,200 per year (£11.90/hour) to £25,000 per year (£12.82/hour).

The hope is that this further guidance will help to provide a workable solution for those sponsored workers who arrived in good faith to work in the health and care sector.”

This annual tweak, based on the latest Office for National Statistics’ Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data, keeps wages in step with UK pay trends and well above the National Living Wage, which is set to rise in April 2025.

This will affect anyone regardless of sector assigned a Certificate of Sponsorship from 9 April 2025 and those in the above-mentioned pool of workers who need to make applications to change their employment.

It will also apply to any workers making extension applications, unless they were initially granted their visa under the Immigration Rules before 4 April 2024, when salaries increased in the UK.

Revocation of licences

Sponsors can have their sponsor licence revoked for passing on what are mandatory employer costs to their sponsored workers, whether this is by making the employee make the payment directly, or the employee paying back the company.

These costs relate to sponsoring a worker, such as the sponsor licence fee and the Immigration Skills Charge.

The Home Office is also now cracking down on sponsors paying their sponsored workers’ salaries in full or in part using funds that have been invested into the company by the sponsored worker.

How to remain compliant

Firstly, keep up to date with the recruitment changes being introduced from 9 April 2025.

The added requirement to provide evidence of efforts to recruit those who already hold Skilled Worker Health and Care visas will likely extend the time it takes to recruit workers and will probably extend the time it takes for visas to be issued since the Home Office may seek this evidence before a visa is approved.

Next, review all current salaries so that they will be in line with the rise in the National Living Wage and be aware of the salary increase requirements for workers who are applying for Skilled Worker Health and Care visas from 9 April 2025.

Also review how previous applications have been paid for and make sure that no mandatory employer costs have been passed on to the visa holders. If they have, address this mistake by making the visa holders aware and reimbursing them.

Finally, prepare for further scrutiny of this sector by the Home Office, meaning a continued emphasis on inspecting companies and an upcoming White Paper expected from the Home Office in which they will likely outline new measures for employers to demonstrate efforts to train the domestic labour force.

While there are promising signs that those overseas workers stuck in limbo will soon be able to work as they originally intended, for legitimate employers dealing with shortages, the new rules are now more stringent than ever.

 

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