UK Immigration Update | July 2025
Published on 1st July 2025
The UK government's immigration white paper, headline reforms, skilled workers, student and graduate visas, and more
In this issue, we look at some of the main areas of focus of the UK government's comprehensive white paper on immigration that was unveiled in May.
The white paper, "Restoring Control over the Immigration System", aims to reform the system to ensure it is fair, controlled and beneficial to the economy and society.
Tracking Developments
To help you track and horizon scan developments in this area, we have created an online hub, the UK Immigration white paper tracker. We aim to update this hub as more details come to light.
The areas we focus on in the current update include:
- enhancing English language proficiency
- proposed changes for the skilled worker route
- linking skills to sponsor licence holders
- amends to student and graduate visas
We will also ask how best should businesses prepare, given the lack of detail in the white paper.
UK immigration reform to focus on language proficiency, high-talent routes and skills integration
Some of the main areas of focus of the UK government's May 2025 white paper that are aimed at immigration reform are enhancing English-language proficiency, leveraging high-talent routes and linking skills to sponsor licence holders.
UK government identifies opportunities for skilled workers
One of the biggest changes that the government is planning to make for the UK immigration system is in relation to the Regulated Qualifications Framework level that jobs would need to be at to in order to hire applicants from abroad.
UK government proposes substantial amends to student and graduate visas
One of the sizeable changes that has materialised in the UK immigration white paper is the strengthening of the requirements that all sponsoring institutions must meet in order to recruit international students.
UK immigration timelines for reform expected by autumn
The government's white paper on immigration May has focused on a number of basic principles: reducing net migration to sustainable levels, linking immigration to UK skills development to prevent over-reliance on foreign workers, and enforcing immigration rules more effectively.
