A look ahead to immigration in 2025

Written by Ashley Fleming, partner and head of immigration at Harper Macleod

With the Home Office maintaining its focus on enforcing immigration laws, ensuring compliance, and reducing net migration, 2025 is set to be another busy year for both immigration lawyers and their clients.

Following last year’s election, the Labour government was quick to show its hand, putting immigration enforcement and compliance at the top of its agenda for this Parliament. What this means in practice is that there are likely to be further changes to the immigration rules and guidance in the coming year. 

Skills shortages and Government policy 

With skills shortages still being felt across Scotland and the wider UK, it is no surprise that there has been a continued focus on the skilled worker route which allows employers to sponsor the visas of foreign national employees. Last year, we had to grapple with complex changes to the salary thresholds for visa sponsorship. 2025 has started off with various substantive changes to the three main Home Office sponsor guidance documents for the Worker and Temporary Worker visa routes. The key changes include a prohibition on sponsors passing skilled worker sponsor licence fees (including associated administrative costs such as the premium service fees) and cost of assigning a Certificate of Sponsorship to sponsored workers. Sponsors will need to ensure that any existing policies regarding clawback agreements are reviewed in line with these policy changes, or risk possible revocation of their sponsor licence.  

Further changes in government policy are likely as a result of a pending Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) review and a planned government White Paper setting out plans to reduce migration, which is due to be published in early 2025. In announcing the plans for the White Paper at the end of November, the Prime Minister made it clear that there will be an expectation on training the domestic workforce in return for being able to sponsor foreign workers.

These plans move away from arbitrary caps on migrant numbers, which was the preferred method of the last government. The end goal is however the same, to reduce overall net migration figures whilst addressing the domestic skills gap.

Linking skills to visa policy is unlikely to be an easy task and it is hard to see how a one-size-fits-all approach can work across industry, particularly when the lead team to train up the domestic workforce will vary markedly depending on the shortage occupation. What is clear though is that organisations wishing to rely on overseas labour should be prepared to demonstrate their commitment to developing their own skills pipeline to address skills gaps within their workforce.

Digital borders – transition to eVisas and Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)

In a bid to modernise border control and streamline entry processes, the UK Government has introduced the Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) scheme. This new system requires visitors to the UK who do not currently need a visa for short stays, or who do not already have a UK immigration status to obtain an ETA before travelling to the UK. The ETA is a digital permission to travel designed to enhance security by pre-screening passengers and providing authorities with more information on those entering the country. The scheme went live for nationals of more than 40 countries such as the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand on 8th January 2025 and will extend to EU nationals (excluding Ireland) from 2nd April 2025. It represents a significant shift for non-visa nationals who will need to get into the habit of applying for an ETA before travel.

Additionally, the move to eVisas marks another critical development in the UK's immigration framework. By transitioning from physical visas to digital ones, the government aims to simplify the visa process, reduce paperwork, and improve the overall efficiency of immigration services. eVisas are expected to offer benefits such as easier updates to visa conditions, faster processing times, and improved access for both applicants and authorities to manage visa information.

However, these technological advancements also raise concerns about data privacy, system reliability, and the potential exclusion of individuals who may struggle with digital access. The transition has already been bumpy, with the Home Office announcing an extension to the use of biometric residence permits (BRPs) for travel to the UK until the end of March 2025, despite BRPs expiring on 31st December 2024.  Ensuring that these new systems are accessible, secure, and effectively integrated into the broader immigration infrastructure will be a key challenge moving forward.                                                                                       

In summary, 2025 is expected to be a year of further change and there will undoubtedly be lots to get to grips with. The initiative to link visa sponsorship with skills training is ambitious but complex and its implementation is likely to be slow to rollout. When the time comes, businesses will need to be poised to adapt to the ever-evolving immigration landscape in the UK.

Ashley Fleming is a partner and head of the immigration team at Harper Macleod. Ashley is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in immigration law and is dual-qualified in Scotland and England & Wales.