Cleverly Reveals Strategy to Reduce Net Migration by 300,000
The salary threshold for work and family reunion visas will be raised, and health care workers will no longer be allowed to bring dependants. Home Secretary James Cleverly announced measures on Monday to tighten immigration rules, which he said would help reduce the number of net migration by 300,000.
It comes after the number of net migration in 2022 was estimated to be 745,000, some 60 percent up from that for 2021 and quadrupling the number in 2019, according to numbers released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The provisional estimate for the year ending June 2023 is lower, at 672,000, suggesting there may have been a slow down in immigration this year, although the figure is still subject to revision. “It is still far too high,” Mr. Cleverly told Parliament on Monday.
The government has previously said students visa rules will be tightened from 2024, Mr. Cleverly said that, along with the new measures, will slash the total number of immigration by 300,000. Estimates of UK’s long-term migration by the Office for National Statistics. (The Epoch Times)
Under the new plans, overseas healthcare workers will no longer be able to bring dependants, and only firms regulated by the the Care Quality Commission will be eligible to sponsor visas. According to the home secretary, in the year ending September 2023, some 120,000 accompanied 100,000 foreign care workers, and only a quarter of the dependants are estimated to be in work, meaning ” a significant number are drawing on public services rather than helping to grow the economy,” he said.
To ensure migrants “make a big enough financial contribution” in the system, Mr. Cleverly said the annual immigration health surcharge will go up by 66 percent this year, from £624 to £1,035. The government will also scrap the 20 percent going rate salary discount for occupations on the Shortage Occupation List. The income threshold for dependent of British citizens and residents will also be raised from £18,600 to £38,700.
The home secretary said he has also asked the MAC to review the graduate visa route to prevent abuse. Earlier this year, the government has said most international students can no longer bring dependants from 2024, and they will no longer be able to switch to work visas before their studies are completed. ONS estimate of net migration of UK, EU, and non-EU nationals. (The Epoch Times)
Responding the the announcement, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said it’s “an admission of years of total failure by this Conservative Government—failure on the immigration system and failure on the economy.”
According to survey results published by People Polling, over half (56 percent) of the 1,564 respondents thought the latest number of net migration was too high while only 2 percent thought it was too low. The concern over high immigration levels was reflected in voters of all major political parties, with 36 percent of Liberal Democrats voters saying the number is too high—compared to 85 percent of Conservative voters and 38 percent of Labour voters—and 5 percent of Lib Dems voters saying the number was too low. Only 1 percent of Tory voters and 4 percent of Labour voters said the number was too low.
Last week, the Centre for Policy Studies think tank said England, where 90 percent of the UK’s immigrants live, will need half a million new homes each year unless immigration levels are brought down.
Monday’s announcement also came as Mr. Cleverly was set to fly to Rwanda to upgrade a deal designed to allow the UK to send illegal immigrants on a one-way flight to the east African country.
