British government will tighten the conditions for labor visas

The British Labor government of Keir Starmer, under pressure to reduce immigration, will tighten the conditions for assigning labor visas and will facilitate the expulsion of foreigners for offenses, the interior Minister Yvette Cooper announced on Sunday, AFP reports.

The minister will present to the Parliament a new sheet of immigration, less than two weeks after the success of the UK Anti-Migration Party in the local elections.

‘This is a plan that targets (…) the considerable reduction of net immigration’ in the country, which has reached 728,000 people between June 2023 and June 2024, said Yvette Coopenic on Sunday News.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer defended these ‘firm’ measures and accused X on the conservatives of ‘lost control’.

Laborists, who come to power in July last year, will mainly « attack » work visas, the second source of foreigners in the country, after study visas.

A candidate for a qualified worker visa will now have to present a diploma level equivalent to a French license, notes AFP. Exceptions are provided in areas where there is a working shortage.

Companies in the care sector (sanitary and accompanying services of the person, etc.), which depend strongly on the foreign labor, will no longer be able to recruit directly from abroad.

‘It is a significant change’, which will also allow the fight against exploitation, said Yvette Cooper on the BBC, given that abuses are regularly denounced in this sector.

The government thus hopes to reduce ‘up to 50,000’ the number of slightly qualified workers in the country next year, she added.

The roadmap will also include measures for better regulation of family visas.

The government also intends to facilitate the expulsion of foreigners convicted for crimes committed in the United Kingdom.

Currently, the Ministry of Interior is not notified of offenses committed by foreigners only when they are sentenced to a prison sentence, and the expulsions generally concern those sentenced to deprived of liberty greater than one year.

‘We will enter procedures to ensure that Home Office is informed when criminal offenses are committed, even when there is no prison sentence to facilitate the expulsions, explained Yvette Cooper on Sky News.

In addition to the legal immigration, the British government is also under pressure to limit the arrivals of migrants that cross the sleeve channel on small boats. Over 38,000 reached last year and over 11,000 from the beginning of the year.