Can new visa regulations kill or cure health care workers?

The government has tightened visa requirements for certain routes of migrant workers, including those that are in the health and care sector. Oliver O’Sullivan examines the impact of this on a workforce in limbo.

The Home Office released a statement on 12 March 2025 containing changes to Immigration Rules. These included small but significant amendments to current visa routes. This was particularly relevant for employers that sponsor health care workers under Skilled Worker Visa category.

The Health and Care visa allows companies registered in the UK to sponsor and employ workers for relevant jobs in the UK.

This visa route has been heavily used across the industry to fill shortages in the UK of workers who can perform these roles. When Home Office visits to sponsor companies were very rare, many companies applied under the Skilled Worker Visa route.

When we spoke to individuals from abroad who had been sponsored, they found that their sponsor was not able to provide them with any work when they arrived here in the UK.

In the last 12 months the Home Office dramatically increased their inspections, leading to a large increase in the number companies that have had their sponsor licenses revoked.

This leaves 34,000 people without sponsors in the UK, and they are unable to work for employers who do not have a sponsor registered.

There are thousands of people who cannot work because of issues beyond their control.

Test of the New Resident Labour Market

Sponsors will have to prove that they conducted a recruitment process in order to find a suitable candidate among those who hold a Skilled Worker Health and Care Visa before they can proceed with a sponsorship application. If you fail to comply, the visa could be refused.

The Home Office is expected to publish more guidance on how this process should be conducted. We expect that it will be linked to the PS16m fund, launched by the government last year to combat the exploitation and abuse of social care workers.

This fund’s main task is to identify those whose sponsorship has ended and to register them. It also provides a platform for advertising vacancies.

This could be the case once again. The UK used to have a resident labour market test (Tier 2 General) where ads had to be specific and posted for a certain amount of time.

There may be some concessions made in terms of timing, as many of these workers have already had their visas restricted to 60-days.

This further guidance is hoped to be a solution to those sponsored workers, who came in good faith in order to fill job shortages in the health care sector but were disappointed by their sponsor.

Minimum wage increases

The minimum salary required for skilled worker visas has jumped from PS23.200 per annum (PS11.90/hour), to PS25,000 (PS12.82/hour).

This annual tweak is based on data from the Office for National Statistics Annual Survey of Hours Earnings (ASHE). It keeps wages up to date with UK pay trends, and above the National Living Wage which will rise in April 2025.

The change will apply to anyone, regardless of their sector, who has been assigned a Sponsorship Certificate as of 9 April 2025. It also applies to those workers in the pool above who are required to submit a request to change employment.

This will also apply to workers who make extension requests, unless their visa was initially granted under the Immigration Rules prior to 4 April 2024 when the salaries in the UK increased.

Revocation of licenses

Sponsors may lose their sponsor license if they pass on mandatory employer costs directly to their sponsored employees, whether the employee pays the cost or the company reimburses the employee.

These costs are related to the sponsorship of a worker. For example, the Immigration Skills Charge and the Sponsor Licence Fee.

The Home Office has also begun to crack down on employers who pay their sponsored workers’ salary in full or part with funds invested in the company by sponsored workers.

Compliant?

Keep up-to-date with the changes in recruitment that will be implemented from 9 April, 2025.

It is likely that the requirement to show evidence of recruitment efforts for those already holding Skilled Worker Health and Care Visas will extend the time taken to hire workers and the time required to issue visas, as the Home Office will most likely ask for this evidence before the visa can be approved.

Review all salaries to ensure they are in line with the National Living Wage and the requirements of workers applying for Skilled Worker Health and Care Visas starting 9 April 2025.

Check how visas have been paid in the past and ensure that any employer costs are not being passed onto the visa holders. You can correct this error by letting the visa holders know and compensating them.

Prepare for the Home Office to continue to scrutinize this sector. This will include a renewed emphasis on inspections of companies, and a forthcoming White Paper from the Home Office that is expected to outline new measures employers can take to show their efforts to train domestic workers.

The new rules for employers who are dealing with shortages are more strict than ever. While there are signs that overseas workers in limbo may soon be able work as intended, legitimate employers are still facing shortages.

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