The UK home office figures show that last year, 15 709 caregiver visas were issued to Zimbabweans and to Nigerian citizens in 19449.
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After Prime Minister Kiel Starmer announced plans to permanently scrape visas for employees in that category, Zimbabwean workers seeking to migrate to the UK by obtaining care work will be detained.
The UK government has decided to permanently scrap the care visa for the sake of the ongoing “abuse and exploitation,” it said in a May 12 post on its official X account. The star is under pressure to reduce migration to the UK due to the growing popularity of right-wing anti-immigrant challenger parties such as Nigelphage Reform UK.
The permit provided Zimbabwean experts with a escapism from the country's never-ending crisis.
According to the World Bank, Southern African countries have one of the world's most informal economies, experiencing frequent attacks of currency volatility and high inflation. Last year it discarded Zimbabwean dollars and, after crashing it many times, replaced it with a jig, short for Zimbabwean Gold.
Since 2009, the country's sixth attempt to establish functional units, the bullion support currency, has also been shaking. The central bank closed the exchange rate gap in official and parallel markets, down 43% in September.
India, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are the three largest sources of care workers migrating to the UK since they began offering such visas. The UK home office figures show that 15 709 caregiver visas, including key applicants and their dependents, were issued to Zimbabweans and Nigerian citizens 19 last year.
Brain drainage into the UK has led to Zimbabwe's bleeding not only in healthcare but also in sectors that span banking, accounting and information technology services.
“Most people who left their profession to participate in care jobs wanted temporary relief in terms of revenue,” Nguwi said on the phone Wednesday. New developments in the UK “doesn't necessarily close searches for greener pastures,” he said, and brain drainage will continue, and there is a high possibility that new interest will be raised in travelling to Australia and New Zealand.
Zimbabwean authorities complain that nurses and doctors leaving to work in the UK have created a major gap in health services across the country.
Most hospitals in the country are under-equipped and have no medicines. The facilities are also unstable with electricity and water supply, and low working conditions have led to low morale among workers. Earlier this month, ministers urged Zimbabwean President Emerson Mnangagwa to intervene in the misery of the health sector.
