Debt collectors, mortgage administrators and HR officers will always be able to come and work in the United Kingdom on qualified workers visas after changes to immigration rules that have left employers free to recruit abroad for a wide range of low-qualifying office jobs.
The new rules, established in Parliament on Tuesday, mark a significant tightening of the British regime for work-related migration, with work visas that should be limited in principle to higher level jobs and salary thresholds for each profession raised in accordance with the recent growth of wages in the United Kingdom.
Yvette Cooper, the Minister of the Interior, said that a “complete reset” of the system “would restore appropriate control and order”, with a fundamental change in approach to focus on “higher skills, a lower number and stricter controls”.
However, the rules will be, at least initially, more liberal than this wording suggests, due to the roles included in a “temporary shortage list” of non -graduated professions which will always be eligible for visas until the end of 2026 – although without the right for migrants to bring the family.
Some of these roles – such as laboratory and engineering technicians, and welders – are covered by visa rules that have often been relaxed in the past, due to shortages of chronic skills.
Others have been added because the Treasury and the Department of Affairs and Trade say they are important for delivery Industrial strategywhich focuses on eight sectors deemed critical to stimulate growth over the next decade.
The list includes certain roles which require specific technical skills – from clinical trial administrators to steel erectors, industrial climbers and architectural technicians.
Employers of the creative industries – identified as important industrial strategy – will be able to hire writers, dancers and non-UK photographers, makeup artists, sets of sets and box office assistants.
The list also includes several main categories of works in white passes where the justification for international recruitment is less clear: it is office technicians, business support staff, accountants and mortgage administrators, insurance subscribers, accounting technicians, marketing partners, sales staff and HR officers are all included – among others.
The Ministry of the Interior said that 111 roles previously eligible for visas would no longer qualify. The roles on the list of temporary shortages would not be eligible for a salary or visa discount, and the list would be replaced at the end of 2026, following an examination of the Government Migration Advisory Committee (Mac), he added.
After this date, each sector will also need a plan in place to train British workers if it is a question of keeping access to visas – but ministers have not yet determined how this system will work.
Brian Bell, chief of the Mac, said that the ministers wanted to quickly make changes to avoid a “closure sale” where employers rushed to hire before new restrictions.
Hotel employers, who have often used the visa system to hire chiefs, would be the most affected by the new borders, he added.
The Mac would examine the importance of each profession for the sectors chosen in the industrial strategy, and if it was realistic for employers to hire in the United Kingdom, said Bell-and then includes roles on a new shortage list only if a labor plan was in place.
