New Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules published

13.03.2025

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On 12 March 2025, the Home Office published a new Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules setting out key amendments to some visa routes, including the Skilled Worker route, the Visit Visa route, the Global Talent route and the Ukraine visa schemes. The principal changes laid out in the Statement are as follows.

New rules for care worker sponsorship and recruitment

Changes are being made to the Skilled Worker provisions for care workers and senior care workers, in response to the growing pool of workers in this route who no longer have sponsorship because their sponsors have been unable to offer sufficient work and/or have lost their sponsor licences.

The changes require sponsors to try to recruit from this pool of workers who are seeking new employment before seeking to sponsor new recruits from other immigration routes or from overseas. To enforce this requirement, sponsors must provide confirmation from the relevant regional or sub-regional partnership that they have tried to recruit in this way, and confirm that no suitable workers were available from this pool.

These changes relate only to care jobs with working locations entirely in England. Applications relating to working locations in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland are unaffected. The changes also do not apply to workers in England who were already sponsored in these occupations before the changes take effect (including those changing employers), or those switching from other immigration routes who have been working lawfully for their sponsor for at least three months.

Salary changes under the Skilled Worker route

Changes are also being made to update the minimum salary floor from £23,200 per year (or £11.90 per hour) to £25,000 per year (or £12.82 per hour).

It is standard practice to update this and other salary requirements across work visa routes each year, using the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). This ensures these salary requirements continue to reflect the latest pay situation for UK workers.

As the Government intends to shortly publish an Immigration White Paper, the changes are being limited to only updating the minimum salary floor. This is to ensure it reflects the latest ASHE data and remains significantly above the National Living Wage, which is also increasing in April 2025.

Going rates for individual occupations in healthcare and education are also being updated, where they are drawn from national pay scales, so that they continue to reflect the latest pay scales. Updates to going rates for other occupations are being made only to reflect the new minimum salary floor of £25,000 per year / £12.82 per hour.

Adjustments are also being made to the rules concerning deductions from an applicant’s salary, and the rules are being updated to confirm that where an applicant is claiming a ‘new entrant’ salary reduction based on training towards a recognised professional qualification, this must be a UK qualification.

Introduction of a Visit Visa requirement on Trinidad and Tobago

The changes will introduce a visa requirement for nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, which means that these nationals will need to apply for and obtain a visa prior to visiting the UK. As a consequence of this new requirement, Trinidad and Tobago will also be removed from the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).

By applying a visitor visa requirement and removing eligibility to enter the UK with an ETA, those travelling to visit the UK can be assessed against the requirements of the Immigration Rules in advance of arrival in the UK. This means that their visit visa application will be refused where they do not meet those requirements or granted where it is concluded that they do.

This change is being introduced following a significant increase in nationals of Trinidad and Tobago who have travelled to the UK for purposes that are not permitted under the Immigration Rules for Visitors, such as to live, work or claim asylum in the UK. In particular, there has been a sustained increase in asylum claims by nationals of Trinidad and Tobago.

The introduction of the visa requirement will include a transition period for nationals of Trinidad and Tobago to travel to the UK without a visa where they hold a confirmed travel booking made prior to the introduction. This period will commence at the same time as the visa requirement is introduced and run until six weeks after the introduction date: 15:00 BST on 23 April 2025. During this period, nationals of Trinidad and Tobago who hold a confirmed travel booking at the time of the introduction, for travel to the UK within the six-week transition period, will not be required to obtain a visit visa before travel. They will, however, be required to hold a valid ETA. Applications for an ETA for nationals of Trinidad and Tobago closed at 15:00 GMT on 12 March 2025.

Nationals who hold confirmed bookings for travel to the UK on a date after the transition period ends will need to obtain a visa in advance of travel. Amending the date of travel on a confirmed booking to an earlier date that falls within the transition period would still require the person to have a visa. This transition period is designed to prevent operational difficulties, general unfairness, and ensure that people who arranged travel before this announcement do not lose money. The length of the period (six-weeks) has been chosen to give those affected enough time to apply for and receive a visa. The current customer service standard processing time for applicants to receive a decision and, if issued, a visitor visa, is three weeks.

Changes to the Ukraine Schemes

The Statement sets out some key changes to the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme, as follows.

The Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme (UPE) launched on 4 February 2025 and provides a route for Ukrainians (and their eligible family members) who have already been living in the UK with Ukraine Scheme permission to make a further application to extend their temporary sanctuary in the UK whilst the conflict in Ukraine remains ongoing. The Statement confirms that eligibility for the UPE will now extend to children under 18 who were previously granted Leave Outside the Rules, aligning their status with their families.

The Home Office is also amending eligibility requirements under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme (HfU), to introduce an ‘approved sponsor’ requirement for minors and standardise the definition of ‘parent’ to align with the broader immigration system. Additionally, parents wishing to be joined by their children must be lawfully resident in the UK.

Changes to the Global Talent route

The Global Talent visa category is for talented and promising individuals in the fields of science, digital technology and arts and culture wishing to work in the UK.

At the request of Arts Council England and their sub-endorsing bodies, a series of changes are being made to the evidential requirements for applicants under this route.

Updates are also being made to the Global Talent: Prestigious Prizes list, which sets out eligible prizes for achievements in science and the arts that qualify applicants for the Global Talent route without the need to obtain an endorsement from one of the Global Talent endorsing bodies.

Other changes

The Statement of Changes also sets out a series of other amendments being made to the Immigration Rules, including:

Changes relating to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS).
Update to the annual quotas of Youth Mobility Scheme (YMS) partner countries for 2025.
Changes to Administrative review.
Adding children (aged 18 and under), visiting the UK as part of a French school group, to the list of those who do not need an Electronic Travel Authority (ETA).
Removing British Nationals (Overseas) from the list of nationalities requiring an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA).
Changes to Appendix Child Student relating to Child Student safeguarding.
Adding a ‘genuine intention to study’ rule to Appendix Short-term Student.
Amendments to Appendix Student to exempt PhD students from Academic Progress requirements if they are following their academic supervisor to another education sponsor to complete their studies.