The United Kingdom plans to eliminate the care worker visa route in the coming months, a move that is expected to significantly affect migration from countries such as Ghana and Nigeria, according to an announcement by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
The policy change, revealed Sunday, forms part of the Labour-led government’s broader strategy to tighten immigration controls and reduce net migration numbers. The now-targeted visa route has been a critical pathway for thousands of foreign nationals seeking employment in the U.K.’s health and social care sector.
“This was a failed free market experiment,” Ms. Cooper said in an interview with the BBC. She argued that the care worker visa system has contributed to unsustainable levels of migration, and stated the government is aiming to reduce annual migrant arrivals by at least 50,000. Speaking separately with Sky News, the Home Secretary signaled an expectation for a “significantly more” substantial drop from recent figures, which peaked at over 900,000 in 2023.
Further details of the reform will be outlined in a white paper expected Monday. The overhaul is also set to include tighter limits on skilled worker visas, restricting them to graduate-level roles, and imposing stricter conditions on non-graduate visas to align with industry-specific needs.
The proposed policy has drawn criticism from care industry stakeholders, who warn it could deepen staffing shortages in an already strained sector. Jane Townson, chief executive of the Homecare Association, said providers may struggle to meet demand without migrant workers and called for increased public funding to sustain domestic recruitment.
Ms. Cooper responded by pointing to what she described as inefficiencies in the current system, asserting that some visa holders were either underemployed or placed in positions that didn’t exist. She proposed a new “fair pay agreement” aimed at addressing labor conditions in the care sector.
The decision arrives as Labour faces political pressure from the surging Reform UK party, which has capitalized on public frustration over high migration levels. Reform UK is now polling ahead of Labour, buoyed by recent local election gains.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer echoed the sentiment Sunday, vowing to “restore control and cut migration,” while assuring voters that the new policies are designed to prioritize British workers.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp dismissed the proposed 50,000-person cut as “too little, too late,” and accused the government of neglecting immigration control until public dissatisfaction forced action.
Although the government has not announced sweeping changes to international student visas, universities are expected to face tighter compliance measures going forward.
Source:TheDotNews