The United Kingdom has announced a major change to its immigration policy, ending new overseas recruitment for social care jobs with immediate effect.
This is part of a new immigration plan released by the UK government on Monday, May 12, 2025, in an 82-page document titled *”Restoring Control over the Immigration System.”*
According to the UK Home Office, the visa route for care workers from abroad has been “exploited and overused” and will now be shut down to new applicants.
“We will close social care visas to new overseas applications,” the government said. “This route has been exploited and overused in ways that damage public confidence and do not support long-term workforce sustainability.”
The new rules also state that care workers who are already in the UK will only be allowed to extend or switch their visas until 2028. After that, a new plan will be introduced to train and hire workers locally.
The Home Office added, “The health and social care sector must move away from reliance on low-wage overseas recruitment. We will instead support long-term workforce planning and training within the UK.”
One of the biggest changes in the new policy is the tightening of what the UK calls “skilled work.” The government said many people were using loopholes to enter low-skilled jobs under the skilled worker category.
“We are tightening the definition of skilled work — skilled must mean skilled,” the White Paper said. “Work that does not meet the bar will not be eligible for a visa, no matter the sector.”
To support this change, the government is also ending the Immigration Salary List. This list had allowed some foreign workers to be hired for lower pay than the usual threshold. Officials say this change will protect wages and job opportunities for UK residents.
“We will remove the Immigration Salary List to prevent undercutting of UK wages and to ensure that migration supports, rather than suppresses, the labour market,” the government added.
The new immigration plan also places more responsibility on employers. Before hiring foreign workers, companies must now show proof that they have tried to recruit people locally.
“No employer should be allowed to default to migration. We are rebalancing the system to reward training, not reliance,” the Home Office stated.
UK Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, called the changes “a bold, necessary reset.”
She said, “We are acting to bring numbers down and restore control. We must rebuild public trust and end the perception that immigration is a substitute for skills planning.”
She added, “We will not allow temporary migration routes to become permanent. Our reforms will restore integrity and ensure immigration works for Britain — not the other way round.”
These new rules have started immediately and are expected to change the way the UK handles foreign recruitment, especially in sectors like health and social care that have depended heavily on migrant workers in recent years.
