What do Keir Starmer's immigration changes mean for Scotland?

STV News

14-05-2025

A major immigration shake-up is on the horizon after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a suite of upcoming changes on Monday morning.
The changes include making migrants wait ten years rather than five to apply for settlement or citizenship, increasing the required standards of English for those coming to the UK, and tightening tests on colleges and universities offering places to foreign students.
The proposals would also 'close social care visas to new applications' from abroad.
It's all part of Starmer's promise to bring immigration down.
'Make no mistake, this plan means migration will fall. That's a promise,' Starmer said.
The UK Government said that 'every part of the system is being tightened'.
If approved, these changes will be rolled out across the UK – including Scotland where MSPs have little to no control over immigration and visa policy.
But what does it mean for people in Scotland and who does it affect?
Some of the changes, like new English language requirements and 'earned' citizenship requirements will affect most people who live and work in the UK through a visa.
However, Starmer's Government will continue to offer a shorter pathway to settlement for non-UK dependents of British citizens for five years.
'We will retain existing safeguards to protect the vulnerable, including settlement rights for victims of domestic violence and abuse,' the white paper added.
Other changes are specifically aimed at immigrants on care worker visas, student and graduate visas, or low-skilled immigrant work visas.
If Starmer's changes are approved, Westminster will 'close social care visas to new applications from abroad'.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper said that the overseas recruitment for care worker will be stopped as part of plans to reduce 'lower-skilled' visas by 'up to 50,000' in the next year.
Cooper said the rules around the system will change to 'prevent' it being used 'to recruit from abroad'.
For a transition period until 2028, the Government will permit visa extensions for those already in the country with working rights, but this will be kept under review.
Cooper said: 'We will allow them to continue to extend visas and also to recruit from more than 10,000 people who came on a care worker visa, where the sponsorship visa was cancelled'.
However, Dr Donald Macaskil, CEO of Scottish Care, said the UK Government direction of travel 'continues to reflect a hostile and dehumanising culture' that contradicts the 'values of compassion and care' that underpin the care sector in Scotland.
'The potential ending of the social care visa route would not only be irresponsible, but it would also be reckless. It would put lives, services, and whole communities at risk,' Macaskill said.
Starmer's Government also wants to raise the level of skilled workers back to the 'highly skilled' undergraduate degree level or above.
The Government said this approach would see the number of eligible roles for immigrants 'reduced by around 180 occupations'.
It's part of Labour's plan to crack down on lower-skilled worker visas, which it says have increased in recent years.
The UK Government will also establish a 'temporary shortage list' for below degree level jobs, which would provide 'time-limited access' to the points-based immigration system.
The shortage list would also require a workforce strategy aimed at sourcing British workers for those roles in the long term.
The Government also wants to raise the Immigration Skills Charge, a fee paid by UK employers when they apply for a Skilled Worker visa, by 32% – in line with inflation.
The immigration changes will also impact Scottish universities and international students coming to the UK.
Starmer's proposals would reduce the length of time international graduates can remain in the UK after their studies to just 18 months — down from the current two-year post-grad visa.
The Government said it will also explore introducing a levy on higher education provider income from international students, which would be reinvested into skills.
It also intends to strengthen the requirements that all sponsoring institutions must meet in order to recruit international students.
Claire McPherson, director of Universities Scotland – the representative body of Scotland's 19 higher education institutions, said many of the changes will 'help preserve an internationally competitive offer to international students'.
'Today's confirmation that the graduate route will remain in place, with some minor changes will offer some relief to institutions even if it is not the direction we wanted to see UK Government policy go in,' she said.
However, there are other aspects of the changes that Scottish Universities need to understand in 'greater detail' – including clarification that a UK Government levy will not apply to Scotland's universities in a devolved context
'The financial challenges facing Scotland's universities are well known,' Ms McPherson said.
'International tuition fees are already subsidising the higher education of Scotland's home students and our research output. A levy on this much-needed income would be unwelcome given the financial pressures already facing the sector.'
Stricter English language requirements are also on the way for migrants.
Skilled workers are already required to speak English to an intermediate level – B1 on the Common European Framework for Reference for Languages (CEFR) scale.
However, the new rules would require skilled workers to speak English at upper intermediate level (CEFR B2)
The UK Government will also introduce a new basic English language requirement (CEFR A1) for all adult dependents of workers and students with the aim of increasing this requirement over time.
'We will introduce requirements to demonstrate progression to level A2 (Basic User) for any visa extension, and B2 (Independent User) for settlement,' the white paper states.
'We will increase our existing requirements for settlement across the majority of immigration routes from B1 to B2 (Independent User).'
These changes have all been laid out in the UK Labour Government immigration White Paper, which is a government policy document setting out their proposals for future legislation.
It provides details about bills that are being planned by the government. The new rules laid out in the report will still need to go through Parliamentary debates and procedures before they come into affect. A lot could change in that time.
Immigration is also a 'reserved' matter, meaning the UK Government retains control over immigration and visa policies and rules even though they have effect in Scotland and beyond.
In other words, it's an area where the Scottish Parliament has little say or control.
However, First Minister John Swinney and Scotland's equalities minister have both criticised the reforms as 'damaging' to the Scottish economy, NHS, social care, and universities.
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