3 January 2025

2024 has marked an exceptionally consequential year for the UK immigration law sector. These changes can be primarily attributed to the previous Conservative Government’s measures to reduce net migration, the snap announcement of a General Election and subsequent landslide victory of the Labour Party, and the commencement of large-scale digitalisation of the immigration system.

This article reviews key UK immigration law and policy developments from 2024, and what to expect in the world of immigration law in 2025.

Civil penalty increases for illegal working

From 13 February 2024, employers who breach illegal working rules are now subject to increased fines starting at a maximum of £45,000 for an initial breach and £60,000 for subsequent breaches. This development early in 2024 marked a treble increase from previous fines and the beginning of a year in which the importance of sponsor compliance has increasingly come to the fore.

These changes to the civil penalty scheme for illegal working pose a significant financial risk to employers, who now more than ever should be confident that they have undertaken the prescribed right-to-work checks to establish a statutory defence against liability for any illegal working.

Care workers no longer able to bring dependants to the UK

From 11 March 2024, migrant care workers can no longer bring dependent partners and children to the UK, in line with similar restrictions imposed on international students in most circumstances. This change came as part of the Government’s crackdown on net migration, which has hit the care industry hard. Prospective care workers now face tough decisions when considering relocation to the UK, and the drastic decline in the number of Health and Care Worker applications this year reflects this change, as per the most recent immigration statistics.

Significant changes to counter increases in net migration

Following the release of the Government’s five-point legal migration plan on 4 December 2023, the Home Office published a Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules HC 590, delivering further substantial changes to work and family routes coming into force in April 2024, aimed at reducing net migration to the UK.

Changes to salary thresholds for work routes

The general salary threshold under the Skilled Worker route was raised from £26,200 to £38,700 per year for initial applicants, with going rate salary thresholds for individual occupations adjusted to the same ratio—shifting from the 25th percentile of UK earnings to the 50th percentile, or median.

For migrants who were already in the UK on the Skilled Worker route and those in specific Health and Care Worker visa occupations with salary requirements not based on national pay scales, the general threshold increased from £26,200 to £29,000 while going rates remained at the 25th percentile but were updated in line with recent UK earnings data.

For occupations with salary requirements based on national pay scales (such as many healthcare roles), thresholds rose from £20,960 to £23,200, with going rates also adjusted in line with the latest national pay scales. Additionally, all existing Skilled Worker salary discounts—such as those for relevant PhD holders, new entrants and national pay scale occupations—were increased based on updated UK earnings data.

The Shortage Occupation List was additionally removed and replaced by the Immigration Salary List (ISL). Rather than being a list of all occupations experiencing labour shortages, roles on the ISL are now those the Government considers sensible to offer a discounted salary threshold. Roles listed on the ISL no longer have discounts to the going-rate salary thresholds specific to each occupation. However, ISL occupations have a 20% discount to the general salary threshold (down to £30,960 if the individual is subject to the new £38,700 threshold).

The above increases to salary thresholds appear to have resulted in a modest reversal of the upward trend in yearly applications under Worker (including Skilled Worker) routes, as the latest immigration statistics show.

Other changes to skilled work routes

Alongside introducing the above salary threshold changes aimed at reducing net migration to the UK, the Statement of Changes HC 590 also introduced important updates to the rules for Skilled Workers. These included:

• a relaxation of the rules for undertaking supplementary employment, enabling workers to undertake employment in addition to the main job they are sponsored to undertake, in any eligible role under Appendix Skilled Occupations (rather than the role needing to be in a shortage occupation or the same occupation as the main role, as was the case previously)
• Work routes previously used the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) system from 2010 to classify occupations. The Home Office has implemented sweeping amendments to the Rules to update occupation data from the previous SOC 2010 system to the newer SOC 2020 system. As a result, the classification of many skilled roles changed significantly.

While not aimed at reducing net migration, these were significant updates to the rules applying to Skilled Workers. While the update to the SOC 2020 occupational classification system initially entailed some disruption for sponsors (including discrepancies in salary thresholds across Home Office guidance) the new system reflects more up to date occupation data and is therefore more fit for purpose than the previous 2010 system.

Minimum income requirement for Family applications increases to £29,000

The Home Office has increased the minimum income requirement (MIR) for new applicants on the Family route, from £18,600 to £29,000, a significant increase in the required income threshold which is likely to result in many British citizens and settled people being unable to live with their families in the UK.

The first MIR increase to £29,000 entered into force on 11 April 2024, and the previous Conservative Government proposed two additional increases to the MIR to £34,500 and then to £38,700 in early 2025. Shortly after coming into power, the new Labour government put these further increases on hold, and instructed the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to conduct a detailed review of the MIR thresholds. Pending the outcome of the MAC’s review, further increases remain on hold and depending on the findings of the MAC, may be reversed. Laura Devine Immigration submitted formal evidence to the MAC encouraging reform of the MIR, and we keenly await the review’s outcome.

Sponsor licence expiry dates abolished

Previously, the process of renewing a sponsor licence – which was required every four years – provided an important focus point for sponsors to undertake due diligence on their systems and processes to ensure compliance with sponsorship obligations.

From 6 April 2024, the Home Office removed the requirement for sponsors to renew their sponsor licence every four years, effectively abolishing fixed licence expiry dates. Whilst this announcement was welcome news to sponsors saving them time and money, it has no doubt increased the risk of non-compliance for some sponsors who fail to monitor their sponsorship and recruitment practices regularly.

eVisa rollout commences

After years of anticipation, the Home Office’s replacement of physical immigration documents with digital immigration status (eVisas) commenced in earnest from April 2024. The transition to eVisas is intended to render the border process more efficient, reduce the risk of document tampering, put eVisa holders in control of their data and enable them to share their UK immigration status more easily.

Since August 2024, all individuals who hold UK immigration permission have been required to apply for an eVisa and have been invited to create their UKVI account to evidence their immigration permission digitally from 1 January 2025 onwards. This includes all holders of Biometric Residence Permits (BRPs) and Biometric Residence Cards (BRCs), which are due to expire on or before 31 December 2024.

General Election – Labour Party wins a 174-seat majority

Following the announcement of a snap General Election by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Labour Party’s election victory on 4 July 2024, the direction of the new Government’s immigration policy has prompted cautious optimism among immigration law practitioners.

The preceding 14 years of Conservative rule proved challenging from an immigration policy perspective. Setting aside Brexit and the subsequent challenges posed by the transition, the previous Government’s tenure has seen a marked erosion of immigration appeal rights, the introduction and recent increase of a minimum income requirement for family members of British citizens, the introduction of citizen-upon-citizen status checks, and latterly, the implementation of the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and the ultimately unsuccessful attempt to facilitate the removal of asylum seekers to Rwanda.

During Labour’s first months in power, several immigration policy developments were implemented:

• the scrapping of the Rwanda scheme;
• resumption of asylum claims processing for irregular arrivals;
• engagement with the Migration Advisory Committee, call for sector review of the IT and engineering fields and a review of the Minimum Income Requirement;
• continued implementation of the Electronic Travel Authorisation and eVisa schemes;
• announcement of reform of the work immigration regime to link immigration to other policy areas such as labour market and skills policy;
• introduction of strengthened border security measures; and
• introduction of the Border Security Command to counter people trafficking and irregular arrivals into the UK.

It is worth noting however that the above-detailed measures of the previous Conservative administration aimed at reducing net migration (such as increasing the MIR threshold under the Family route, increasing Skilled Worker salary thresholds and restricting care workers from bringing dependants to the UK) have been retained by the new Labour administration, likely due to the salience of high net immigration as an important electoral issue.

Further rollout of Electronic Travel Authorisations scheme

The rollout of the UK’s Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme has continued apace during 2024, both under the previous administration and now under the Labour Government.

As with the US’s ESTA (Electronic System for Travel Authorization) scheme and comparable schemes in other countries, under the ETA scheme, certain visitors to the UK are required to apply for advance travel permission before travelling to the UK. The requirement for an ETA depends on travellers’ nationality and travel date:

• Currently required: Nationals from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates need an ETA for travel to the UK.
• From 8 January 2025: Nationals from non-European countries, including the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, will need an ETA. Applications opened on 27 November 2024.
• From 2 April 2025: European nationals will require an ETA. Applications open on 5 March 2025.

If they do not currently hold an ETA, travellers will likely be asked to apply for one at the airport, and there is no guarantee that it will be received in time for their flight. We understand that travellers should not be denied entry/boarding as the scheme will not be fully enforced until later in 2025. However, we strongly advise that travellers apply for and obtain the ETA before travelling to avoid delays or issues.

Dramatic growth in Home Office sponsor compliance actions

On 28 November 2024, the Home Office revealed how many Skilled Worker sponsor licences it had suspended or revoked in the third quarter of 2024. The increase in sponsor licences being suspended or revoked yearly is dramatic.

In the third quarter of 2024, the Home Office suspended 509 licences and revoked 513. In the same period last year, the Home Office suspended 91 licences and revoked 65. This data continues the trend shown in the data for the previous two quarters of 2024 for year-on-year increases in compliance action against sponsors. By early December 2024, the Home Office had already suspended 1,342 licences and revoked 1,222. This figure is compared to 569 suspensions and 337 revocations for all of 2023.

The substantial and sustained increase in compliance action against sponsors follows the Home Office’s announcement earlier this year that it would continue to ramp up compliance visits to sponsors and intends to strengthen the rules around sponsorship.

The end of BRPs and a shift to eVisas

At long last, BRPs and BRCs ceased production on 31 October 2024 and expired on 31 December 2024. The shift towards eVisas and digital-by-default status has not been without challenges, with many migrants and legal representatives reporting technical problems in setting up or accessing their eVisas.

On 4 December 2024, the Home Office announced transitional measures to ease the transition to eVisas from 1 January 2025 due to concerns about technical complications and travel accessibility. Under these new measures, airlines and other carriers can accept biometric residence permits (BRPs) and EU Settlement Scheme biometric residence cards (BRCs) expiring on 31 December 2024 as evidence of permission to travel to the UK, provisionally until 31 March 2025.

What’s to come in 2025?

Going into the latter half of the decade, the Labour Party has entered Government at a testing time for the immigration landscape. One of the new administration’s key challenges is balancing public concerns about rising migration levels with the UK economy’s need to address ongoing skills shortages and the rights of individuals to reunite with family members. The new Government appears to offer a more measured, collaborative and evidence-based approach to immigration reform. However, it remains to be seen whether Labour’s ambitions align with the progressive changes many in the profession advocate for.

Changes on the horizon for 2025 include:

Continuation of the digitalisation programme

As the eVisa and ETA schemes progress, challenges at such a large scale are to be expected, and we await news of the next steps for the full implementation and enforcement of eVisas from April 2025. ETAs will be fully in place for relevant nationals by Spring 2025, but the scheme will not be fully enforced until later in 2025—details regarding the timeframe for full enforcement are yet to be announced.

Results of Migration Advisory Committee reviews

Immigration practitioners, industry leaders and families await news of the pending MAC reviews on the IT and engineering sectors and the MIR. The Labour government’s initial emphasis on this technocratic, evidence-driven approach marks a departure from the preceding Government’s strategy.

Linking up of immigration and skills policy

On 28 November 2024, Keir Starmer announced that the Government would ‘imminently’ publish a white paper containing plans to reform the points-based system to combat areas where domestic skills shortages and overreliance on international labour intersect. Based on the pending MAC review of the IT and engineering sectors, we surmise this area could be a focus of the Government’s efforts – in conjunction with renewed emphasis on increasing apprenticeships and other on-the-job training opportunities. This white paper should be released early in 2025.

The Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill

The Border Security, Asylum, and Immigration Bill, introduced shortly after the election in July 2024, details further measures to be implemented over the coming months, which aim to modernise the asylum and immigration system and deliver on other key manifesto commitments. Key elements include:

• providing the new Border Security Command with powers akin to counter-terrorism measures to disrupt people smuggling networks;
• imposing more substantial penalties for individuals involved in organised immigration crime; and
• streamlining the asylum process, including reducing the use of hotels to accommodate asylum seekers and expediting returns for individuals from safe countries.

While concrete proposals are currently sparse, announced information suggests a focus on enhancing enforcement measures rather than fundamentally reforming the asylum system.

Get in touch

To learn more about upcoming changes to UK immigration law, please refer to our website, contact your assigned LDI lawyer or email enquiries@lauradevine.com.