New UK Immigration Rules As Of 22 July 2025

A set of sweeping changes to the UK’s immigration and Skilled Worker visa rules came into effect on 22 July. Here’s what employers need to know.

22 July 2025 | By Alex Schulte

The UK’s framework for attracting foreign labour has just changed – again.

Published in May, the Labour government’s immigration white paper signalled yet another adjustment to the points-based immigration system introduced after the UK left the EU in 2020. Yet its proposed reforms arguably constitute the most significant change to the logic of the immigration system.

The white paper laid out a range of changes and restrictions to the current dispensation, raising qualification and language thresholds for the Skilled Worker visa, increasing minimum salaries and creating new pathways for elite foreign talent to come to the UK.

Now, some of these reforms are now law. On 22 July, the Government implemented the first wave of changes.

Let’s take a look at what will came into effect on that date and what it means for employers.

1. Skill Threshold Changes

The skill threshold at which one becomes eligible for a Skilled Worker visa increased to Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) Level 6, equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.
This move is intended to ensure that “skilled must mean skilled”.
This removes 180 roles that had previously been eligible RQF Levels 3-5
Any individuals already on a Skilled Worker visa will be shifted onto two tiers of transitional rules, depending on whether their Certificate of Sponsorship was issued before or after 4 April 2024.

We had recommended that the threshold will rise to RQF Level 6 our April 2025 report into flaws in the Skilled Worker visa’s design.

What this means for employers

Companies who rely on the immigration system to hire from abroad for non-graduate roles (e.g. some technicians, customer service, or administrative jobs) will need to urgently reassess their hiring strategies. This will now be effectively precluded, unless the roles fall under the remit of the new Temporary Shortage List (more on that later).

There is no transitional phase or grace period involved here, and compliance is mandatory from 22 July. Please note that those already present in the UK on Skilled Worker visas issued before this date and performing work at below RQF Level 6 will be subject to transitional rules, allowing them to retain eligibility to apply for extensions at this skill level.

Employers will now have to make more strategic use of the immigration system to hire from abroad, prioritising higher-skill, more senior roles for which domestic talent is genuinely scarce.

2. Salary Threshold Changes

The minimum salary at which a Skilled Worker visa holder can be paid has risen from £38,700 to £41,600
Variations exist for those with PhDs in certain subjects, and previous Skilled Worker visa holders who will shift to the new transitional arrangement

Updated Skilled Worker Salary Thresholds (Effective 22 July 2025)

Category	Current	New
Option A (standard)	£38,700	£41,700
Option B (PhD)	£34,830	£37,500
Option C (PhD STEM) / D (ISL) / E (New Entrant)	£30,960	£33,400
Option F (Standard under transitional rules)	~£29,000	£31,300
Option G (PhD under transitional rules)	£26,100	£28,200

Note:

The general hourly rate has also increased to £17.13/hr, up from £15.88/hr.

These rates are based on a 37.5 hour work week and must be pro-rated for part-time roles.

What this means for employers

After consecutive years of significant rises to the minimum salary thresholds for overseas hires, employers have now been hit with another increase.

This will effectively rule out hiring junior staff from abroad, unless those staff meet the criteria of the new Temporary Shortage List. Employers must also plan to pay both new overseas hires and existing staff a higher salary. There is no transitional arrangement in place for salary minimums.

This will increase staffing costs across the board and may require salary benchmarking reviews.

Many mid-level or junior roles (especially in early-stage businesses or NGOs) will become ineligible unless salary structures are revised.

We advise employers to issue Certificates of Sponsorship before 22 July in order to benefit from the current thresholds.

3. New Temporary Shortage List

The previous Immigration Salary List has been phased out and will be gradually replaced with a Temporary Shortage List.
The new list will itself come to an end before the end of 2026, though the Home Office reserves the right to end it earlier or extend it.
The Temporary Shortage List will provide time-limited access to roles below RQF 6, but only in select occupations where genuine shortages exist and that are key to the Government’s industrial strategy or the delivery of critical infrastructure
Certificates of Sponsorship for hires through this route must be issued by 31 December 2026, which is when the List is set to expire
The List will be assembled by the Migration Advisory Committee, using data on UK labour market conditions
To access it, employers will need to present a workforce strategy that proves their intent to train and hire UK nationals
Workers sponsored under the TSL cannot bring dependents (partners or children), regardless of whether they apply from inside or outside the UK.

What this means for employers

Employers will continue to have access, for an interim period, to non-graduate level roles, provided these roles contribute to the UK’s industrial strategy.

However, this will come with greater responsibilities than ever before. Beyond 2026, sectors hoping to maintain access to these roles will need to:

Provide a workforce plan
Demonstrate a commitment to domestic training
Undergo MAC review and meet ongoing compliance obligations

The time-limited nature of the list means that employers must issue Certificates of Sponsorship by 31 December 2026. As a result we would suggest that you:

Audit your sponsorship pipeline.
Fast-track CoS issuance for any hires in TSL-listed roles.
Avoid relying on these roles for long-term recruitment strategy.

The clauses preventing sponsored workers bringing dependents mean that employers should prepare for a smaller available talent pool.

4. Closure of the Care Worker Route

As of 22 July, it is no longer be possible for care providers to sponsor new overseas care workers.
This has been decided in response to reports of widespread abuse in the sector.
This does not affect current visa holders, and those already in the UK can continue working and extend their stay as before.

What this means for employers

This will impact only a small and targeted number of employers, but the effects on them will be profound.

One-third of new care workers in 2023/24 were recruited from abroad, though the number of visa grants dropped by 84% between April in September 2024 after a previous round of policy changes. Nonetheless, for those care homes still reliant on international staff, the new move will come as a form of shock therapy.

Employers are still able to hire from the pool of sponsored care workers already in the UK. Similarly, existing visa holders’ ability to remain and extend their status, will be unaffected, sparing providers acute retention problems. Nonetheless, care providers should focus on enhancing their appeal to domestic staff in order to mitigate inevitable shortfalls.

5. Expansion of the Government Authorised Exchange (GAE) Route

This route, which allows short-term work experience and internships for overseas nationals in non-permanent, supernumerary roles, is to be expanded
This route, the GAE, will now include roles under RQF Level 6

What this means for employers

This is one of the more minor of the July 22 immigration rule changes. Still, it may offer some much-needed continuity for companies dealing with the newly raised skill threshold for permanent hires.

Though intended only for non-standard placements, the GAE’s shorter processing times and lower sponsorship compliance burdens will make it easier for some firms to find staff to carry out sub-degree level tasks.

Dissecting the 22 July 2025 Immigration Changes

Employers might be forgiven for feeling fatigued at the prospect of yet another round of tweaks to the immigration system intended to drive up their recruitment costs. But these changes are more fundamental than any introduced in the final years of the previous Conservative government.

The internal logic of the immigration system has been rewritten. With minimum thresholds for both skill levels and salaries rising, hiring from abroad will, in many cases, only make sense for the highest-value and best-remunerated roles.

Even those measures designed to sweeten the pill will only have a limited impact. The GAE route patches up the hole left in recruitment strategies with a trickle of internships and non-permanent hires at RQF Level 3-5. The new Temporary Shortage List is a more substantial concession, but will grant only a time-limited reprieve.

To understand the rationale behind this structural reset, look to the clause requiring employers using the new Temporary Shortage List to submit workforce strategies. The Government is voicing its commitment to weaning British businesses off their perceived reliance on foreign labour, in order to reskill the domestic populace, and it wants to bring busineses along as strategic partners.

This means that the right to use the immigration system as a source of labour will now be accompanied by greater responsibilities. Employers must meet the challenge by adopting a mindset of long-term workforce planning. The alternative? Potentially costly compliance violations at a time when UKVI are stepping up audits.

Further changes on the way by December 2025

We would also remind employers that 22 July’s suite of changes to the immigration system is only the first part of a full programme of reform. The Government has announced its intention to introduce the following changes by the end of 2025: