London:
The UK government plans to strengthen visa requirements to curb the number of people migrant workers coming to the UK through legal routes. Under measures outlined in the immigration whitepaper, the Prime Minister's Carestarmer government calls for restricting skilled workers visas to graduate-level jobs, enforcing businesses to enhance training for local workers, and ending what is called the “failed free market experiment” of mass immigration.
In its announcement on Sunday, the UK home office said that skilled visas will only be granted to people in graduate work, but that visas in low-skilled roles will only be issued in areas that are important to the country's industrial strategy. They reportedly are based on strong evidence of a worker shortage, where employers can commit to increasing skills and recruitment in the country.
The government does not explicitly mention Asians, but the measure is part of a broader effort to reduce the flow of workers to the entire migrant and the country. Previously, according to an AFP report, job and research visa applications from Pakistanis and Sri Lankans will be suppressed.
According to a Reuters report, the government will also assign groups to identify where industries rely on foreign labor.
Nigel Farage's right-wing anti-immigrant reform Reform British party has been under strong pressure to cut pure migration after successful local elections this month. Starmer has pledged to reduce migration to the UK in response to concerns over the pressures this is being put on public services.
How migration in the UK became a poll problem
High levels of legal migration were one of the major driving forces behind the vote to leave the European Union in 2016, with voters unhappy with the free movement of workers across the bloc. After the UK finally left the EU in 2020, the conservative government at the time reduced the threshold so that workers in categories such as yoga teachers, dog pedestrians and DJs could qualify for skilled workers visas.
The post-Brexit visa change saw a sharp drop in the number of European Union immigrants to the UK, leading to new work visa rules arriving from Ukraine and Hong Kong under a special visa scheme, and a surge in immigration.
The UK's migration rate hit a historic high in June 2023, starting from 184,000 people arriving in the same period in 2019 when the UK was still in the EU, to 906,000 people per year. The number of permanently staying in the UK increased by 80% between 2021 and 2024, while the number of addicted people entering the UK increased by 360% between 2021 and 2023.
“We have inherited a failed immigration system in which previous governments replaced free movement in free market experiments. We are taking decisive action to manage the immigration system and restore orders,” UK Home Minister Yvette Cooper said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the government has been criticized for not considering the impact on businesses and for not doing enough to prevent the exploitation of visa holders.
A Bloomberg report said conservative interior spokesperson Chris Philp had argued that the measure had not been fully underway in dealing with the surge in legal migration.
He also called for support of his party's proposal to abolition of binding caps on immigration and the entire human rights law on immigration issues.
