19th March 2024

Radical changes to immigration rules in the UK: Coming at a cost to Skilled Workers

From 4 April 2024, there will be substantially increased financial thresholds for Skilled Workers, as part of the Government’s five-point plan on reshaping immigration in the UK through significant changes to immigration rules.

The new 292-paged Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules was published on 14 March 2024. The biggest changes are to the Skilled Worker route, which take effect from 4 April 2024, increasing the minimum salary level by 48% to £38,700 – with minor salary increases to other sponsored work routes as well. Our colleagues, Jamie Kerr and Amna Ashraf, previously discussed the impacts of the changes to the Skilled Worker and family routes, following the Home Secretary James Cleverly’s announcement of the Government’s five-point plan on UK immigration law in December 2023.

It is vital that employers understand the details of these changes to immigration rules and how they will impact businesses and their employees before they come into effect in April.

Changes to minimum salary thresholds

Employers will need to consider different salary thresholds, depending on whether they are offering/ extending sponsorship for an existing Skilled Worker visa holder (issued under the rules before 4 April 2024), or whether they are offering sponsorship to a new Skilled Worker visa applicant. The starting point for sponsoring the latter group is that they must be paid the general salary threshold of £38,700 but there may be discounted rates available depending on the circumstances.

Our table below illustrates the differences between the current and new rules, for existing visa holders and new visa applicants.

	Current minimum salary	New minimum salary from 4 April 2024 (for existing Skilled Worker visa holders, submitting a new application)	New minimum salary from 4 April 2024 (for new Skilled Worker visa applicants)
General threshold	£26,200 and the occupation’s going rate	£29,000 and the occupation’s going rate	£38,700 and the occupation’s going rate
Applicants who hold a PhD in a subject relevant to the job	£23,500 and 90% of the occupation’s going rate	£26,100 and 90% of the occupation’s going rate	£34,830 per annum and 90% of the occupation’s going rate
Applicants who hold a PhD in a STEM subject relevant to the job	£20,960 and 80% of the occupation’s going rate	£23,200 and 80% of the occupation’s going rate	£30,960 per annum and 80% of the occupation’s going rate
Applicants being sponsored for a job on the Immigration Salary List	£20,960 and 80% of the occupation’s going rate (for jobs on the Shortage Occupation List)	£23,200 and the occupation’s going rate	£30,960 per annum and the occupation’s going rate
Applicants who are “new entrants” at the start of their career	£20,960 and 70% of the occupation’s going rate	£23,200 and 70% the occupation’s going rate	£30,960 per annum and 70% of the occupation’s going rate
Applicants being sponsored for a job in a listed health or education occupation	£20,960 and the occupation’s going rate	£23,200 and the occupation’s going rate	£23,200 and the occupation’s going rate

As is the norm, sponsors must pay the higher between the minimum salary figure (as above) and the occupation’s going rate. However, under new changes to immigration rules, migrants will no longer need to be paid at least £10.75 per hour. We understand this is because under the new rules, the hourly rate even at the lowest salary threshold will exceed the national living wage of £11.44 (from 1 April 2024).

Replacement of the Shortage Occupation List with the Immigration Salary List

From 4 April 2024, the Shortage Occupation List will be replaced by the new “Immigration Salary List”. Jobs sponsored under the new list won’t need to be a minimum of £38,700 but they also won’t benefit from the current 20% discount on the salary rate.

In addition, many jobs currently on the Shortage Occupation List (such as those in the IT sector) will no longer feature on the new Immigration Salary List. It is expected that this list will be updated in the future, once the Migration Advisory Committee have a chance to undertake a substantive review.

Changes to the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes

Currently, employers who wish to sponsor a migrant need to choose a relevant SOC code under the SOC 2010 volume.

From 4 April 2024, changes to immigrations rules mean sponsors will need to choose the relevant SOC code under the SOC 2020 volume, meaning there will likely be differences to the actual SOC code normally used by employers.

Supplementary employment

A surprising but welcome development as a result of the changes to immigration rules is the expansion of the definition of “supplementary employment” under the Skilled Worker route. Currently, a migrant can only undertake employment with a third party if the job will be for a role which appears on the current Shortage Occupation List or is for the same role for which they are being sponsored to do.

Under the new changes to immigration rules, there will be an additional option to work for a third-party for any role which can be sponsored under the Skilled Worker route.

Other changes

Changes to immigration rules will also bring about relatively minor increases to the minimum salary level, as follows:

Route	Current minimum salary level	New minimum salary level
Global Business Mobility (GBM): Senior or Specialist Worker	£45,800	£48,500
GBM: Graduate Trainee	£24,200	£25,410
UK Expansion Worker	£45,800	£48,500
Scale-up Worker	£34,600	£36,300

Employers offering roles which pay below these thresholds will no longer be eligible to sponsor new visa applicants coming into the relevant route. However, our hope remains that many employers will be able to take advantage of the available discounted thresholds under the Skilled Worker route.

If you have any questions about the changes to immigration rules and/or would like assistance with submitting an immigration application, please contact us for a fixed fee consultation.

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