It’s nothing new that changes to the immigration law have been implemented from July 2025, which is an expected change shortly. While this impacts the individuals wishing to undergo these applications directly, it also impacts businesses, universities, and potentially the economy.
Changes to immigration law can make things either easier or harder for the hiring process but also for maintaining their sponsorship licence. Here are some of the changes that have been made and how they can and will begin to impact businesses that wish to hire internationally.
Skilled Worker Visa
This visa is eligible for skilled workers up to a certain standard; however, there are changes that have been made to make eligibility much harder to attain. This makes it harder for entry-level skilled workers to attain these types of visas. You will need to have a level 6 (graduate level) to be appropriate for this visa type.
This used to be between levels 3 and 5; therefore, it is a much greater step into an unattainable level for some professions and some individuals.
Not only will this significantly reduce the pool of professionals eligible for hire or sponsorship under a skilled worker visa, but it also means that if you are hiring for multiple international roles, they are all at a much higher salary level compared to the level 3 and 5 regulated qualifications frameworks.
The starting salary for skilled workers has also increased from £38,700 to £41,700, which depends on your location. While this is great news for skilled workers, this can put a strain on new businesses that have to adhere to other political changes that make it harder for them to hire, such as a potential increase in taxes and national insurance contributions. This could be enough to prevent some businesses from hiring internationally.
Existing Employees
With changes to skilled worker visas, it leave individuals who have a skilled worker visa at RQF level 3 to level 5 in an uneasy position. While for now they are able to remain and extend their visa, change employers and take on supplementary work. This is subject to review and may come with implications for both the skilled visa holder and employers.
It’s imperative to find security as both a sponsor and a current skilled employee visa holder, whether that is by undergoing study to achieve level 6 requirements or applying for a different visa, including indefinite leave to remain (settlement) or citizenship.
How this impacts businesses directly is that they may be at risk of losing skilled employees that they have invested time, money and resources into. As hiring to replace old employees can be an expensive and time-consuming process, this puts businesses at risk of losing both a good employee and funds to hire a suitable replacement.
Graduate Visa Changes
In terms of student visas, there has been a focus on changing the university sponsorship requirements, making it harder for international students to attain a student visa. They are also reducing the time frame a graduate visa is valid for, from 24 months to 18 months.
The change in visa timelines can impact the period in which a graduate can attain a skilled worker visa. This means the pool of graduates will not only become smaller but less time in order to hire potentially skilled candidates. While this isn’t a huge impact on company operations, it’s something to keep in mind during these processes.
Sponsorship Restrictions
All these changes to student, skilled worker, dependant and tourist visas can all directly impact business for better and for worse, but the majority of changes are not necessarily aimed at reducing immigration but at preventing sponsorship abuse, which did not once have such a restriction or limit to how many international employees in their business.
Businesses need to understand exactly how these changes have and will affect the future development and strategy of their business.
Final Thoughts
Overall changes have been implemented; therefore, it calls for action for businesses to change and adjust their strategy to maintain their sponsorship licence but also ensure they aren’t being impacted financially and in the workforce. It’s common for specific industries to see a bigger impact from changes to visas like skilled worker visas as they are putting yet another barrier on new potential employees that would not only benefit the industry but also the economy. For example, the science industry has seen an impact from visa changes in the past 2 years.
Being prepared, mindful and discussing your options with the home office or immigration lawyer in London is the solution moving forward.
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