On 12 May 2025, the UK government confirmed its intention to increase the skills threshold required for overseas workers to qualify for work visas under the Skilled Worker route.

The proposed measures form part of a wider effort to reduce net migration and are expected to impact employers across a range of sectors, including care, hospitality, and logistics.

As reported by the Workplace Journal, these changes are likely to limit the ability of UK businesses to sponsor lower-paid roles, particularly those that do not meet the revised skill or salary requirements.

Commenting on the development, Lisa Uttley, Partner at Gherson Solicitors LLP, stated:

“Today’s white paper on immigration suggests that stark reforms are on the way, which have the potential to cause further damage to the UK economic outlook, far beyond the havoc wreaked by Reeve’s non-dom tax raid.

Predictably, rhetoric on needing to reduce net migration was at the front and centre of Sir Kier and Yvette Cooper’s plans.

But while some of the changes being floated by the Labour government simply borrow from Immigration Rules of years past – for example, cutting down the duration of Graduate visas from 2 years to 18 months (between April 2012 – July 2021, no dedicated post-study route operated whatsoever); raising the threshold to qualify for a work permit from A-Level equivalent qualifications to a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree; and cutting the list of shortage occupations which allow for a more streamlined work permit application process – many more are troubling.

Worryingly, Starmer and Cooper’s paper makes several suggestions which would severely undermine the credibility of the UK as a destination for the brightest and best.

For example, the prospect of doubling the qualifying period for settlement in the UK from 5 to 10 years is untenable and completely out of line with the approach adopted by any other country in the developed world.”

Source: https://workplacejournal.co.uk/2025/05/government-tightens-immigration-rules-increasing-skills-threshold-for-workers/