The United Kingdom has prohibited healthcare workers from bringing dependents into the country.
In a statement made on Monday, the Home Office stated that the new plan aims to reduce migration levels and prevent exploitation of the immigration system.
The Home Office stated that the new approach will result in the largest-ever decline in the country’s net migration.
Britain’s government stated that it was a means of decreasing “unprecedented” and “unsustainable” amounts of legal immigration to the country.
The Home Office said the adjustment will encourage “businesses to look to British talent first and invest in their workforce.” This will enable the UK dissuade firms from relying too heavily on immigration while also bringing earnings in line with the average full-time salary for these types of positions.
Interior Secretary James Cleverly stated that his strategy will result in 300,000 fewer individuals coming to the UK in the following years.
Cleverly’s plans would require workers to earn at least £38,700 to receive a visa, up from £26,200, and care workers would be prevented from bringing in dependents from next April.
He said, “The first of our five points will be to end the abuse of the care visa. We will stop overseas care workers from bringing family, dependants and we will require firms in England to be regulated by the Health Care Quality Commission in order for them to sponsor visas.
“Approximately, £120,000 dependants accompanied £100,000 care workers in the year ending September 2023, but only 25% of the dependants are estimated to be in work, meaning that a significant number are joining public services rather than helping to grow the economy.
“We recognise that healthcare workers do great work in our NHIS and health sector, but it’s also important that immigrants make a big enough financial contribution. Therefore, it will increase the annual immigration healthcare charge by 66% from £624 to £1035 to raise, on average, £1.3 billion for the health services of the country every year.
“Second, we will stop immigration undercutting the salary of British workers. We will increase skilled workers’ earning threshold by a third to £38,000 from next spring in line with the medium, full-term wage for those kinds of jobs.
“Those coming on social and health visas will be exempt, so we will continue to bring healthcare workers.”
The Home Office also made another post on its verified X handle (formerly Twitter) to verify the announcement saying, “From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependants.
“This is part of our plan to deliver the biggest ever cut in migration,” it wrote.