Don’t bring your families along, UK govt tells Nigerians, other foreign health workers

The United Kingdom government has enforced a ban on all foreign care workers intending to migrate to the country, prohibiting them from bringing their dependents. The announcement via the UK Home Office’s verified X account on Monday stated that care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas are no longer permitted to bring dependents.

 

This decision is outlined as a crucial element of the government’s strategy to achieve the most substantial reduction in migration to date.

 

The UK Home Office posted on X, saying, “From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependents. This is part of our plan to deliver the biggest ever cut in migration.”

 

The UK’s comprehensive plan to achieve the “biggest-ever cut in migration” includes banning most overseas students from bringing their families to the UK and prohibiting overseas care workers from bringing dependents.

 

Scheduled for implementation are:

 

increases in the minimum income threshold for skilled workers to £38,700, the removal of the 20% going rate salary discounts for shortage occupations, and a rise in the minimum income requirement for family visas.

 

It is crucial to note that the UK Home Office’s measures are part of a broader strategy to reshape migration policies, as outlined in their plan for substantial changes in various aspects of immigration regulations.

 

Explaining the ban, the country’s Home Office and relevant migration bodies stated: “New rules to radically cut net migration and tackle visa abuse are now in force as part of the government’s plan to bring down unsustainable levels of legal migration.

 

Care workers will now be restricted from bringing dependants, after a disproportionate 120,000 dependants accompanied 100,000 workers on the route last year.

 

“Care providers in England acting as sponsors for migrants will also be required to register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – the industry regulator for Health and Social Care – to crack down on worker exploitation and abuse within the sector. It forms part of a wider package of measures, which is being implemented as soon as possible, which means a total of 300,000 people eligible to come to the UK last year would now not be able to do so.”