The British government has introduced new measures to reduce the number of immigrants moving to the United Kingdom yearly.
In a statement on Monday, Home Secretary James Cleverly stated that the new measures aim to shed over 300,000 people migrating to the United Kingdom, a figure that includes a substantial number of Kenyan immigrants.
According to data from United Nation's migration data in 2020, the United States of America (USA) has the highest number of Kenyan migrants, with 157,000 followed by the UK with 139,000.
In the statement, Cleverly unveiled a five-point plan that would take effect beginning January 2024.
This involved:
Family Dependants
Overseas care workers will no longer be allowed to bring family dependants.
According to Cleverly, over 100,000 family members accompanied care workers to the UK in the year ending September 2023.
This brought into question the immigrants' ability to take care of their relatives and essentially not be a burden to the government.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak recently raised the alarm too, on the worrying influx of immigrants, which needed to be reduced to sustainable levels.
Eligibility for Work Visa
The threshold for one to qualify for a skilled worker visa in the UK has increased from the minimum income of Ksh5 million to Ksh7.4 million.
This means that for one to qualify for a skilled work visa, they need to earn a minimum income of Ksh7 million annually.
Currently, the UK visa consists of five tiers, including Tier 1 for High-Value Migrants such as experts, Tier 2 for skilled workers, Tier 3 which is unskilled workers, Tier 4 for students and Tier 5 for temporary workers.
Cleverly, however, pointed out that the health and care sector will be exempted from the increase.
Shortage Occupation List
The Home Secretary announced that the shortage occupation list would be abolished to provide a level plain field between the British and foreign workers.
The shortage occupation list comprises jobs in which the demand exceeds the supply in the labour market.
According to the previous law, foreign workers were preferred by employers as the law allowed the immigrants to be paid 20 per cent less than the British workers.
With the new rules, the list will be replaced with a new immigration list that will provide the same rates for Britons.
Annual Charges
Cleverly announced that the British government has increased the annual charges that foreign workers pay to use the National Health Service (NHS) from the current Ksh121,033 to Ksh198,424.
The NHS is a service in the UK that provides affordable medical treatment for everyone and is paid through taxes.
Graduate Visas
Finally, the British government commissioned a Migration Advisory Committee to conduct a full review of the graduate visa route and announce ways to limit the numbers.
