What could Labour’s Immigration changes mean for you

The Home Office are set to announce new changes to various sections of the Immigration rules as part of their ongoing attempt to curb immigration numbers.

Whilst they have not yet confirmed what these changes will be, some have already been reported, such as a crackdown on applications from countries they deem to be a “risk” of overstaying and claiming asylum. We have explored the potential consequences of this crackdown in our previous post here.

In this post we explore what other changes the Home Office are likely to make, and how these could impact both applicants and the wider UK.

Labour market

Employers are likely to have to show that they have attempted to fill roles from UK talent, before being able to sponsor workers from overseas.

This change is reminiscent of the old “Resident Labour Market Test”, which required employers to provide evidence that they had attempted to fill roles from within the UK before going on to issue Certificates of Sponsorship to overseas individuals. The previous RLMT made it mandatory to advertise the role on certain UK job boards and provide evidence of why any UK applicants were not suitable for the role.

The changes expected to be seen within the announcements next week are likely to introduce something very similar to this, and employers will need to be prepared for the sponsorship process to take longer than it does at the moment.

It is not yet clear whether these changes will affect all industries or just those deemed to be “over reliant” on international recruitment, such as IT and telecommunications.

Visa restrictions

As we explored in our previous post, linked above, the Home Office are proposing restrictions on visa applications from certain nationalities. It is not yet clear what these restrictions will be, but they are expected to focus on individuals from Nigeria, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, nationalities which the Home Office judge to be most likely to overstay and claim asylum in the UK. We have not yet seen figures to back this up however, and the Home Office will need to tread very carefully for this not to be seen as an unjust and discriminatory policy.

Settling in the UK

Settlement in the UK is already complex, with different routes having different requirements and residence periods, for example some under a global talent visa can apply to settle after 3 years, a work visa or family visa after 5 years, and those here on Human Rights grounds only after 10 years.

The proposed changes look to potentially extend this residence period to 10 years for “some” people, however it is not yet clear who these people will be, or whether there will actually be any noticeable change. This change could potentially double the cost of an individuals immigration journey, requiring more fees and associated NHS surcharge.

English language requirement

We expect to see changes to the English requirement for some routes, although the Home Office have denied reports that the level will be raised from GCSE standard (Level B1) to A-Level standard (Level B2).

Right to Family Life

The Home Office are bound by a duty to adhere to the ECHR, specifically a persons right under Article 8, the right to a family and private life. It is this adherence to the Human Rights Act that protects children and families from being split up unless doing so would be in the publics best interests. It allows children to maintain relationships with both parents if one is subject to immigration control and allows partners and spouses of terminally ill people to remain with them in their final days.

The Home Office are in the process of reviewing how Article 8 applies to Immigration cases, on the basis that alleged poor interpretation of the ECHR has led to questionable decisions being made by the Immigration courts.

A BBC news article highlights a decision by the court to allow an Albanian national, with a criminal record, the right to remain in the UK based on the fact it would be unduly harsh for his 10 year old son to live in Albania as he “will not eat the type of chicken nuggets available abroad”. However this child had additional needs, with sensory difficulties specifically surrounding food. The father had already been stripped of his British Citizenship, to strip him of his son’s welfare in addition to this seems unduly harsh.

Changes of this scale are always a worrying time for immigration, especially when the Home Office are relying on data that the Office of National Statistics has admitted is inaccurate and experimental.

Hopefully next week we will know more about the details of these changes and the impact they will have.