Home Secretary James Cleverly on Monday told MPs that a new package of measures to cut record net migration will see the number of people moving to the UK fall by 300,000.
He announced a five-point plan that included a ban on foreign care workers bringing dependents, a big increase in the salary required for skilled foreign workers to get a visa to £38,700, and the scrapping of companies being allowed to hire cut-price labor from overseas for roles where there is a shortage of workers.
He said the measures, combined with a previously announced ban on masters students bringing in relatives, would mean that more than 300,000 people who entered the UK in 2022 would no longer be able to do so, adding that the plan would amount to the largest reduction in immigration on record.
The announcement comes ahead of plans this week for a new treaty with Rwanda to secure deportation flights after the policy was ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court.
The Home Secretary also revealed to the MPs that the Government would stop overseas care workers from bringing family dependents into the UK.
Other decisions announced are that:
Care firms recruiting foreign workers will only be allowed to sponsor workers if they have been cleared to do so by the Care Quality Commission in an attempt to end abuses that have seen some staff switch to more lucrative jobs after arriving in the UK.
The minimum salary required for a foreign skilled worker to come to Britain will increase from the current £26,200 a year to £38,700 from next spring, in line with the median wage. Health and social care visas will be exempted so that the NHS and care homes can still recruit from abroad.
The shortage occupation list, under which companies can pay foreign workers in shortage areas 20 percent below the going rate, will be scrapped.
The minimum income required for a worker in Britain to bring a spouse or dependent into the UK on a family visa will be raised from £18,600 to £38,700, the same as the skilled salary threshold.
