With the general election expected to take place next year, Rishi Sunak’s government is taking measures to deliver on its pledge to cut down on net migration. One of these measures includes the Conservative Party raising the salary requirement for those who plan to apply to live in the UK.
Recently, the Home Secretary, James Cleverly, announced that aspiring migrants must earn £38,700 ($48,900) to be eligible for working visas. This is a massive increment from £26,000. He added that it is a step taken to bring down the annual net migration by 300,000 in the coming years.
Another measure, albeit a bit controversial, is deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda. In an attempt to allay worries raised by the British courts regarding its intention to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, Cleverly is scheduled to sign a treaty with the African nation.
Furthermore, Cleverly also announced the end of overseas care workers being able to bring their family dependents and the end of the 20% salary discount that employers can pay compared to the ongoing rate for employees who are under the shortage occupation list of the government. This is a U-turn since the ministers added bricklayers to the list to support the construction industry a few months ago.
Following the recent Office for National Statistics announcement that an estimated 672,000 more people entered the UK than left in the year ending in June, Sunak has been under tremendous pressure from Tory MPs to devise a plan to combat the country’s soaring immigration rates.
Additional Immigration Plans From Cleverly
- More regulation for Care companies to sponsor visas
- Increase of the annual immigration health surcharge by 66% to £1,035
- The salary threshold will be £38,700 to be eligible to bring a foreign spouse to the UK
- The UK will assess its graduate route to visas to avert overstaying
One of the five promises Sunak has asked voters to evaluate him by is the prevention of asylum seekers arriving in small boats across the English Channel, a topic ministers have been debating for months.
However, the ONS figures highlighted the extent to which legal migration has evolved since the 2016 vote to leave the European Union. The increasing number is seen by Tory MPs as a breach of the Brexit pledge.
Demands for action from the Tories are particularly vehement among the self-described “New Conservatives,” a right-wing caucus that primarily holds seats in the North and the Midlands that were once held by Labour before defecting to the Tories in 2019. They stated that their “solemn promise” to curtail migration was the reason for being elected.
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