Friday 21 March 2025

The Home Office published a new Statement of Changes in Immigration Rules (HC 733) on Wednesday 12 March 2025. The main changes are summarised below.

Visa regime for Trinidad and Tobago

Nationals of Trinidad and Tobago were placed on the visa national list from 3pm on Wednesday 12 March 2025 and can no longer apply for an ETA to travel to the UK. They must instead apply in advance for a visitor visa.

A six-week transitional period has been introduced for those who already hold an ETA and a confirmed booking to the UK made before 3pm on Wednesday 12 March 2025. They must arrive in the UK no later than 3pm on 23 April 2025. The explanatory memorandum states that this change results from the number of people from Trinidad and Tobago claiming asylum.

Skilled Worker route changes

A number of changes affecting the Skilled Worker route have been introduced, including:

• minimum salary threshold – The minimum salary threshold for Skilled Workers, currently £23,200 per year (£11.90 per hour), will increase to £25,000 per year (£12.82 per hour). This presumably affects thresholds under tradeable points options H, I, J and K, and certain applicants for settlement under Skilled Worker represented by options D and E under ‘Settlement as a Skilled Worker’.
• deduction of certain payments from eligible salary – Certain payments (except where related to an additional benefit) from an applicant to a sponsor will be deducted from the salary counting towards the relevant salary and going rate thresholds. These include:
  • deductions from salary;
  • repayments of loans; or
  • investments
• going rates for healthcare and education sectors – Updates to going rates for occupations in healthcare and education, where they are drawn from national pay scales, ensuring they reflect the latest pay scales.
• going rates for other sectors – Updates to going rates for other occupations will reflect the new minimum salary floor of £25,000 per year.
• going rates and working week hours – Updates to going rates for employees subject to the transitional arrangements covering certain science and teaching roles. Those who have had continuous Tier 2 (General) and then Skilled Worker leave will now be based on a 37.5-hour working week rather than a 40-hour working week.
• new entrant salary reduction – Applicants relying on a ‘new entrant’ salary reduction must have a UK qualification.
• CoS validity requirement – A new alternative has been added to the validity requirement for Skilled Workers to have a CoS issued in the last three months before the date of application. Where a CoS has been issued under the new Sponsor a Worker system, this timeframe will be 90 days, provided the CoS is linked to a Sponsorship Reference Number. Any days during which an edit requested by a sponsor to their Sponsor a Worker submission is being reviewed will be disregarded by Home Office caseworkers. The Sponsor a Worker system has not yet been released to the general public.
• qualifying period for settlement as a main applicant – The qualifying period for settlement as a main applicant must have been entirely spent as a main applicant and not as a dependant. This change also applies to other work routes leading to settlement.

The change regarding deductions of certain payments could prove significant for employers sponsoring workers with a CoS issued on or after 9 April 2025. Employers should assess the impact of such deductions to ensure salaries comply with the new provisions, as these arrangements aim to prevent debt bondage or strict clawback clauses.

New protections for care workers

New measures are being introduced to prioritise the recruitment of existing care workers already in the UK before employers can sponsor new hires from abroad. Sponsors in England aiming to recruit care or senior care workers (under occupation codes 6135 for care workers and home carers and 6136 for senior care workers) must first attempt to hire from the pool of UK-based care workers who:

• need new sponsorship because their sponsor has lost its licence or has not provided sufficient work; or
• have been identified by the relevant regional or sub-regional partnership as requiring assistance in obtaining new sponsorship.

This change follows widespread exploitation of sponsored adult social care workers in recent years, which has led to increasing numbers of licence revocations and care workers left in immigration status limbo without sponsored employment.

Changes relating to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
Key changes include:

• biometric residence cards – Allowing a non-EEA national applicant to use a UK-issued biometric residence card (BRC) or permit that has expired by up to 18 months as proof of identity and nationality.
• removals during administrative review – Confirming that a person with a pending administrative review of an EUSS decision who has not left the UK or has been granted entry into the UK (except on immigration bail) will not be removed.
• refusal on suitability grounds – Enabling an application to be refused on suitability grounds, without a deportation or exclusion order in place, where the applicant’s conduct before the end of the transition period meets the relevant EU law public policy test under the Withdrawal Agreement.

These changes provide additional flexibility for applicants facing administrative delays or technical issues with their documentation. The extension of validity for expired BRCs aims to prevent unnecessary disruptions for individuals who may otherwise struggle to prove their status. However, the new suitability ground for refusal introduces a potentially stricter approach to assessing past conduct, which could result in more refusals based on discretionary judgments.

Other changes of note

• changes to Ukraine Schemes – Children under 18 who were granted Leave to Enter the UK outside the Immigration Rules will now be included in the Ukraine Permission Extension (UPE) scheme, allowing them to join or stay with parents who already hold Ukraine Scheme permission. A change to the Homes for Ukraine Scheme guidance (published on 31 January) will enable eligible parents to sponsor their children to come to the UK under the Homes for Ukraine route.
• Appendix Short-term Study (English Language) – A new ‘genuine intention to study’ requirement is being introduced, which may lead to an increase in refusals, as decisions will be at the discretion of the Home Office decision maker.
• ETA exemption for French school trip groups – Children visiting the UK with a French school group will not need to obtain an ETA. This change ensures equal treatment of non-visa national children (who can travel using a national identity card) and visa national children (who must travel with a passport).
• Appendix ETA exemption for British Nationals (Overseas) – British Nationals (Overseas) are being removed from the list of nationalities requiring an ETA for travel to the UK. BN(O) passport holders will now be able to travel to or transit via the UK without an ETA.

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.