UPDATED: UK bans overseas health workers from bringing dependants
The United Kingdom has banned healthcare workers from bringing dependants to the country.
The Home Office in a statement issued on Monday said the new plan is to slash migration levels and curb abuse of the immigration system.
The Home Office noted that the new measure would deliver the biggest-ever reduction in the country’s net migration.
Britain’s government said it was a way of reducing “unprecedented” and “unsustainable” levels of legal migration to the country.
According to the Home Office, the revision will encourage “businesses to look to British talent first and invest in their workforce.” This will help the UK deter employers from over-relying on migration while bringing salaries in line with the average full-time salary for these types of jobs.
Interior Secretary James Cleverly said his plan would result in 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK in the coming years.
Under plans set out by Cleverly, workers would need to earn at least £38,700 to obtain a visa, up from £26,200, while care workers would be barred from bringing in dependants from next April.
He said, “The first of our five points will be to end the abuse of the care visa. We will stop overseas care workers from bringing family, dependants and we will require firms in England to be regulated by the Health Care Quality Commission in order for them to sponsor visas.
“Approximately, £120,000 dependants accompanied £100,000 care workers in the year ending September 2023, but only 25% of the dependants are estimated to be in work, meaning that a significant number are joining public services rather than helping to grow the economy.
“We recognise that healthcare workers do great work in our NHIS and health sector, but it’s also important that immigrants make a big enough financial contribution. Therefore, it will increase the annual immigration healthcare charge by 66% from £624 to £1035 to raise, on average, £1.3 billion for the health services of the country every year.
“Second, we will stop immigration undercutting the salary of British workers. We will increase skilled workers’ earning threshold by a third to £38,000 from next spring in line with the medium, full-term wage for those kinds of jobs.
“Those coming on social and health visas will be exempt, so we will continue to bring healthcare workers.”
The Home Office also made another post on its verified X handle (formerly Twitter) to verify the announcement saying, “From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependants.
“This is part of our plan to deliver the biggest ever cut in migration,” it wrote.
The PUNCH reported in January 2024 that the UK announced that it had commenced the implementation of its policy banning Nigerian students and other overseas students from bringing in dependants via the study visa route.
This development is coming on the heels of the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa warning that the Federal Government had directed that health workers going abroad to seek greener pastures must henceforth resign their appointments before embarking on such journeys.
Alausa said the era of health workers exiting to other countries in search of better offers after applying for a leave of absence is no longer acceptable.
The minister said that the ban on the leave of absence for health workers emanated from the executive order issued by President Bola Tinubu as part of drastic steps to combat the challenge of brain drain fondly called ‘Japa Syndrome’ confronting the nation’s health sector.
Credit: Punch
