Skilled foreign workers will need university degrees to work in Britain in new immigration proposals
11 May 2025, 00:36 | Updated: 11 May 2025, 15:21
Skilled workers from abroad will need to have a university degree to be allowed to work in the UK under new laws to reduce net migration, set to be announced tomorrow.
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The law would mark a return of the threshold for skilled foreign workers to graduate level, which Boris Johnson scrapped and replaced with a points-based immigration system which requires workers to only have the equivalent of an A-level, and is based on salaries.
The skilled visa threshold will be increased to degree-level and employers will be told they must train workers in the UK, under plans to be presented to Parliament on Monday. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has blamed a push for overseas recruitment for high net migration figures in recent years.
The Immigration White Paper is being presented as part of Government efforts to reduce net migration into the UK, with the figure reaching a record 906,000 in 2023.
Net migration is the difference between the number of people moving to a country and those emigrating.
Keir Starmer has been attempting to combat the rise of Reform UK by hardening his rhetoric on migration, after Labour suffered enormous losses to the right-wing party in this month’s local elections.
Their losses were partly blamed on a perceived failure to tackle immigration, which was a substantial part of Starmer’s election campaign.
As part of the campaign, Labour had promised reforms to the points-based immigration system to link immigration to skills policy.
Labour MPs are also expected to accuse the Tories of presiding over the influx of low-skilled workers which pushed migration up to a record 906,000 in 2023.
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Under the proposals, employers will still be able to hire lower-skilled workers from abroad using the points-based system, but only in ‘critical sectors’.
These include IT, construction and engineering, which the Government considers to be suffering labour shortages that are negatively affecting the economy.
Bosses will only be allowed to recruit overseas workers on a temporary basis, and will have to prove to a new government body that they are not relying solely on foreign workers.
To do this, they have to show they are training British workers via apprenticeships and other schemes to plug the skills gap.Home Secretary Ms Cooper has said "migration must be properly controlled and managed so the system is fair".
Ms Cooper said: "We've seen net migration quadruple in the space of just four years, driven especially by overseas recruitment.
"We inherited a failed immigration system where the previous government replaced free movement with a free market experiment.
"Employers were given much greater freedom to recruit from abroad while action on training fell.
"Overseas recruitment soared at the same time as big increases in the number of people not working or in education here in the UK."
Ms Cooper also said the new system would be based on "five core principles", in a piece for the Telegraph.
"First, migration must come down so the system is properly managed and controlled," she said.
"Second, the immigration system must be linked to skills and training requirements here in the UK, so that no industry is allowed to rely on immigration to fill its skills shortages.
"Third, the system must be fair and effective, with clearer rules agreed by Parliament in areas like respect for family life, to prevent confusion or perverse outcomes.
"Fourth, the rules must be respected and enforced - from our crackdown on illegal working to the deportation of foreign criminals. Finally, the system must support integration and community cohesion.
"These changes are essential to end the chaos left by the Tories in the immi-gration system, and to regain control."
