UNITED KINGDOM – Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules March 2023 | Business Routes

March 24, 2023


Following the Home Office’s Statement of Changes of 09 March 2023, in this alert we focus on those scheduled changes to the Immigration Rules as follows:

  1. Skilled Worker: Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • Salary thresholds and going rates for individual occupations are being updated, effective from 12th April 2023, based on the latest available UK salary data.
  • For the skilled worker visa route, the salary threshold will increase from £25,600 to £26,200
  • Regarding salary calculation, the calculation of salaries meeting the threshold will now be based on the more common 37.5-hour working week instead of the 39-hour working week in place currently to calculate the salary threshold.
  • Clarification is also being added to the statement of changes has added clarification on how to consider the salaries of those with work hours that fluctuate on a weekly basis.
  • Individuals required to have a specific job offer. if the decision maker has reasonable grounds to believe the job being offered to the applicant does not comply with the National Minimum Wage Regulations or the Working Time Regulations, the application will be refused.

 

  1. Global Business Mobility: General Changes for all GBM routes: Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • The calculation of example annual salaries will now be based on a 37.5-hour week, rather than 39 hours.
  • For all GBM routes: “The decision maker must not have reasonable grounds to believe the job the applicant is being sponsored to do does not comply with the National Minimum Wage Regulations or the Working Time Regulations.”
  • Jury service or attending court as a witness are now considered to be permissible breaks in continuous work (applies to all GBM routes except Graduate Trainee)
  • Dependent relationships must meet rules as specified in Appendix Relationship with Partner.

 

  1. Senior or Specialist Worker: Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • If the applicant is being sponsored for a job in one of the occupation codes listed in Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations, the general salary requirement is now £45,800 per year, unless the conditions at SNR 8.3. are met.

 

  1. Graduate Trainee: Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • Update to GTR 8.1: If the applicant is being sponsored for a job in one of the occupation codes listed in Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations, the general salary requirement is now £24,220 per year.
  • Addition of GTR 8.3: Reference to situations where “the applicant is being sponsored to work a pattern where the regular hours are not the same each week, resulting in uneven pay”.

 

  1. UK Expansion Worker:  Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • Update to UKX 5.6: Australian permanent residents and citizens don’t need to show 12 month working period prior to application.
  • Addition to UKX 8.2: Reference to situations where “the applicant is being sponsored to work a pattern where the regular hours are not the same each week, resulting in uneven pay”.

 

  1. Service Supplier: Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • General Global Business Mobility changes only (see above at point 1)

 

  1. Innovator Founder: Effective from: 13 April 2023
  • To replace the Innovator visa and the Start-Up visa.
  • The plan is to make the current requirements under the Innovator visa more flexible. Therefore, those who have a genuine proposal for an innovative business and have sufficient funds to submit it, will be more willing to enter the UK and establish this business.
  • While the new Innovator route will still require the applicant’s business plans to be endorsed by a registered endorsing body, Unlike the current Innovator route there is no requirement to show that the applicant has at least £50,000 of funds available to invest, or which have been invested, in their business and applicants can undertake additional work for other employers on top.
  • The changes ease existing restrictions on entrepreneurs engaging in work outside of running their business, provided that such additional work is in a skilled role RQF Level 3 or above. Therefore, this can be seen that entrepreneurs on Innovator Founder visas are looking for a steady income while setting up their business.
  • Time spent in the UK under the new Innovator Founder visa will count towards settlement routes.

 

  1. Scale-Up: Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • The biggest change that has affected the majority of the existing rules is the salary requirements increase. The appropriate salary requirement in which the applicant must be sponsored equal to or exceeding has increased from £33,000 per year to £34,600. First present in SCU 7.1 (a), This is substituted in each place it occurs throughout the SCU rules. Along with the removal of £10.10 per hour SCU 7.1 (b) as a requirement, instead it will be replaced with going rate of for the occupation code 7.1 (c). You will also see the £10.10 per hour is no longer applicable in general.
  • Previously the going rates were based on a 39-hour pro-rated week, this is to be substituted for 37.5 hours pro-rata. “SCU 7.5. Going rates in Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations are based on a 37.5-hour week and will be pro-rated to the applicant’s working pattern, as follows: (a) (the going rate for the occupation code stated in Table 1 of Appendix Skilled Occupations) x (the number of weekly working hours stated by the sponsor ÷ 37.5) (b) the applicant’s full weekly hours will be included when checking their salary against the going rate, even if they work more than 48 hours a week.”
  • The requirement for Applicants to have received monthly PAYE earning in the UK during 50% of their permission as a scaleup worker remains the same, however it is now stipulated with these earnings in the UK equivalent to at least: “(a) £34,600 per year; or (b) £33,000 per year if their most recent permission on the route was on the basis of a Certificate of Sponsorship assigned on or Page 134 of 182 before 11 April 2023.”
  • As a sponsor you must ensure that minimum wage requirement is being complied with. So that upon review of the application the decision maker does not have reasonable grounds to believe the job the applicant is being sponsored to do is not compliant with the National Minimum Wage Regulations or the Working Time Regulations.

 

      9.Temporary Work: Government Authorised Exchange: Effective from: 12 April 2023

  • The decision maker must not have reasonable grounds to believe the job the applicant is being sponsored to do does not comply with the National Minimum Wage Regulations or the Working Time Regulations.
  • Update to GAE 5.2: The sponsor must be authorised by the Home Office to sponsor individuals in the role specified on the Certificate of Sponsorship and on the particular scheme that the applicant has applied to participate in (as set out in Appendix GAE schemes)
  • Update to GAE 11.1 and GAE 11.2: For EC, applicant will be granted 14 days before and after CoS duration. For leave to remain, applicant will be granted shortest period of the following:
  1. the period of the role on the Certificate of Sponsorship plus 14 days after that period (the end date of the Certificate of Sponsorship may be up to the maximum period of time permitted under the terms of the specific scheme on which the applicant has applied to participate in, as set out in Appendix GAE schemes); or
  2. where the applicant is applying to continue to participate in the same scheme, a period of 14 days plus the difference between the maximum period of time that a person on the Government Authorised Exchange route is permitted to spend in the UK under the terms of the specific approved scheme on which the applicant had applied to participate in (as set out in Appendix GAE schemes) and the period that they have already been granted permission to participate in that scheme; or
  3. the difference between 25 months and the duration of the period during which the applicant has already held continuous permission on the Government Authorised Exchange route, including any period where paragraph 39E applied.”

 

  1. Temporary Worker: Charity Worker: Effective from: 12 April 2023
  • A minor amendment has been made to Appendix Temporary Work – Charity Worker. This amendment clarifies the grant conditions for charity workers by stating that supplementary voluntary work is permitted, provided it is similar to the type of role specified on the worker’s Certificate of Sponsorship.
This immigration update is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for legal or scenario-specific advice. Furthermore, it is important to note that immigration announcements are subject to sudden and unexpected changes. Readers are encouraged to reach out to Newland Chase for any case- or company-specific assessments.