Given the current global health crisis, some important new immigration rules may have passed almost unnoticed. Aside from a Statement of Changes released on 12 March, which consisted of mostly minor tweaks and expected changes following judgements or prior announcements, the most important change is the increased Immigration Health Surcharge. Overshadowed by the budgetary measures to stop the coronavirus from spreading, Rishi Sunak announced that the Immigration Health Surcharge will increase from £400 to £624 as part of the 2020 budget.

Immigration Health Surcharge up
The Immigration Health Surcharge was only introduced in April 2015 and amounted to £200 per migrant per year at the time. In just five years’ the cost has more than tripled and has become a serious barrier to employers trying to attract foreign talent. Whilst migrant workers will pay £624 each per year, minors, students and young temporary workers on the Youth Mobility Scheme pay an increased fee of £470. A migrant family of four working in the UK for five years will have to pay £10,940 up front from October 2020 onwards when the rules come into force. From January 2021, the new charge will also apply to migrants from the EU, in a latest blow to businesses’ concerns to face workforce shortages post-Brexit. Importantly, these migrants already contribute to the NHS via their income tax like any UK employee, so the increased fee should not be understood as a contribution to NHS services (which they already made) but as a disguised tax on immigration status grants.

EUSS update
The Statement of Changes announced a series of tweaks to the EU Settlement Scheme, none of them major or unexpected. New evidence can now be submitted in an application for administrative review of a decision to cancel EUSS status at the border on grounds of deception. The rules have also been adapted to reflect case law on family members to EU citizens exercising their freedom of movement rights, such as SM (Algeria) and McCarthy. The provisions setting out the rules for a no-deal scenario have also been deleted. Other minor tweaks have also been made after communication with caseworkers and stakeholders.

Tier 2 and Shortage Occupations
First, the Home Office has decided to freeze the salary threshold for migrant workers aiming to apply for indefinite leave to remain under Tier 2 (General). The freeze was to be expected, as it is in line with the recommendations made by the Migration Advisory Committee’s recommendations and the government’s announcement to lower the general salary threshold under the new immigration system from 2021 onwards.

Second, archaeologists have been added to the Shortage Occupation List (SOL) and as production and process engineers have already been added to the UK-wide SOL, they have been removed from the Scottish list.

Various other updates
Both the list with Permit Free Festivals, where artists can enter as visitors to perform, and the list with organisations recognised by the UKRI whose fellowships qualify for a fast-track application under the global talent visa have been updated. The quota for participants from each partner country to the Youth Mobility Scheme have also been updated.