They are among 111 occupations no longer be deemed to have a shortage of workers, alongside butchers, care workers, veterinary nurses and teaching assistants, and so will no longer be granted access to the immigrations system, The Telegraph has reported.
Migrants can only obtain a job if it is graduate-level or above, part of an attempt to end low-paid migration in the Government’s Immigration White Paper.
Complete reset
A new time-limited temporary shortage list will be introduced until the end of 2026 for below degree level, where ministers say recruiting foreign workers is key to building critical infrastructure or industrial strategy.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “We are delivering a complete reset of our immigration system to restore proper control and order, after the previous Government allowed net migration to quadruple in four years.
“These new rules mean stronger controls to bring migration down, to restore order to the immigration system and to ensure we focus on investing in skills and training here in the UK.”
The changes, if approved by MPs and peers, will come into force from Tuesday 22 July.
Important step
These changes represent a “fundamental shift” in the UK’s approach to immigration, focusing on higher skills, lower numbers and tighter controls.
They are an “important step in ending the UK’s reliance on overseas, lower skilled recruitment”, the Government said.
Each sector must have a workforce strategy in place to train UK workers, or it will lose access to the immigration system.
Workers in occupations on the temporary shortage list will no longer be able to bring dependants and will not be permitted salary and visa fee discounts.
- This story was originally published in the Morning Advertiser’s sister publication MCA here.
