The government’s long awaited White Paper Restoring Control over the Immigration System has been published today. As part of the Home Secretary’s foreword in the Paper, she states that the plan will “restore order, control and fairness to the system, bring down net migration and promote economic growth”. The proposals signal a marked tightening of the UK’s approach to both legal and illegal migration, or so it says, as the Paper lacks much of the detail which would be required to substantiate that.

It is not yet clear how or when these new measures will be introduced (they are described as ‘plans’ throughout the Paper). As ever, the devil will be in the detail but we have summarised the key points likely to affect UK businesses, with our commentary below:

• Skilled Worker skill threshold: This will increase from RQF 3 (A level) to RQF 6 (Graduate level) or above. This will mean that the number of eligible occupations will be reduced by around 180. This will not affect existing Skilled Worker visa holders who will continue to be able to renew their visa, change employment and take supplementary employment, in currently eligible occupations below RQF 6. However, applicants from overseas or those applying to switch from other routes will have to meet the higher skills threshold. We are also told that salary thresholds will rise but without any detail on the level of increase. These measures could be introduced relatively quickly so employers intending to sponsor lower...

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