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Debt collectors, mortgage administrators and HR officers will still be able to come and work in the UK on skilled-worker visas after changes to the immigration rules that have left employers free to recruit overseas for a wide range of lower-skilled office jobs.
The new rules, laid in parliament on Tuesday, mark a significant tightening of the UK’s regime for work-related migration, with work visas set to be restricted in principle to graduate-level jobs, and salary thresholds for each occupation raised in line with recent UK wage growth.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, said a “complete reset” of the system would “restore proper control and order”, with a fundamental shift of approach to focus on “higher skills, lower number and tighter controls”.
However the rules will, at least initially, be more liberal than this wording suggests, because of the roles included in a “temporary shortage list” of non-graduate occupations that will still qualify for visas until the end of 2026 — albeit without the right for migrants to bring family.
Some of these roles — such as lab and engineering technicians, and welders — are covered by visa rules that have often been relaxed in the past, because of chronic skills shortages.
Others have been added because the Treasury and Department for Business and Trade say they are important for delivering the industrial strategy, which focuses on eight sectors deemed critical for driving growth over the coming decade.
The list includes some roles that demand specific technical skills — from administrators of clinical trials to steel erectors, industrial climbers and architectural technicians.
Employers in the creative industries — identified as important in the industrial strategy — will be able to hire non-UK writers, dancers and photographers, make-up artists, set designers and box office assistants.
The list also includes several broad categories of white-collar work where the rationale for international recruitment is less clear: IT help desk technicians, business support staff, book-keepers and mortgage administrators, insurance underwriters, accounting technicians, marketing associates, sales staff and HR officers are all included — among many others.
The Home Office said 111 roles previously eligible for visas would no longer qualify. Roles on the temporary shortage list would not qualify for any salary or visa fee discount, and the list would be replaced at the end of 2026, following a review by the government’s Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), it added.
After that date, each sector will also need a plan in place to train UK workers if it is to retain access to visas — but ministers have not yet determined how this system will work.
Brian Bell, head of the MAC, said ministers had wanted to bring in changes quickly to avoid a “closing-down sale” where employers rushed to hire ahead of new restrictions.
Hospitality employers, who have often used the visa system to hire chefs, would be most affected by the new curbs, he added.
The MAC would examine how important each occupation was to the sectors chosen in the industrial strategy, and whether or not it was realistic for employers to hire in the UK, Bell said — and would then include roles on a new shortage list only if a workforce plan was in place.
