In early 2024, a raft of changes was made to the Immigration Rules, intending to do just that, including but not limited to:
- Increasing the salary requirement from £26,200 per year to £38,700 for Skilled Worker visas and £29,000 for Spouse visas
- Reduction in the number of eligible occupations for the Skilled Worker visa through the implementation of a new Immigration Salary List
- Removal of dependent visas for care and senior care workers; and
- Increasing the Immigration Health Surcharge from £624 per year to £1,035 per year.
The new Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, continues to effect change through plans to divert public funds from the Rwanda policy, put in place in 2022, in order to set up a UK Border Security Command. The intention is that this change will be more effective in combatting illegal immigration by reducing the number of individuals coming into the UK via the English Channel on small boat crossings. The Border Security Command would utilise various agencies, including the National Crime Agency (NCA), intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force, to protect the UK borders by unearthing and tackling the smuggling gangs facilitating the small boat crossings in the first place.
This approach contrasts to the spirit of the Rwanda policy by, in effect, focusing on confronting those gangs enabling illegal immigration, as opposed to penalising those, often vulnerable, individuals who have survived the perilous crossing to land on our shores at great personal expense.
Coupled with this, is the intention to further crack down on UK employers who engage in illegal employment practices. As we know, all UK employers have an obligation to prevent illegal working by ensuring that satisfactory right to work checks are carried out prior to commencing employment and at regular intervals during employment, where required. However, Illegal employment nevertheless remains an issue with Home Office illegal employment enforcement visits rising year on year. Recently, the Home Office even carried out a week-long targeted series of visits to businesses suspected of employing illegal workers to set out their intentions going forward. From 18th to 24th August 2024, 135 business were issued with penalty notices for employing illegal workers and 85 illegal workers were detained2.
Employers found to be employing migrants illegally will face substantial financial penalties – £45,000 per worker for a first offence, rising to £60,000 per worker for repeat offences. Additionally, employers could face criminal sanctions with up to 5 years’ imprisonment if found to be employing someone who they knew – or had reasonable cause to believe – did not have the right to work in the UK.
As can be seen, the costs of getting it wrong when it comes to immigration can be very costly. If you have concerns about immigration law, contact one of our employment law specialists.