Japa: UK halts recruitment of foreign social care workers

The United Kingdom has officially ended the recruitment of foreign nationals for social care jobs as part of a sweeping immigration reform aimed at reducing net migration and redefining what constitutes “skilled work.”

This policy change, effective immediately, was unveiled in an 82-page Immigration White Paper titled “Restoring Control over the Immigration System”. It marks one of the most significant shifts in UK immigration policy in recent decades.

According to the UK Home Office, the social care visa route has been “overused and exploited.” As a result, no new overseas applications for social care roles will be accepted. The government says the move is crucial for rebuilding public trust and creating a more sustainable, UK-based workforce.

“We will close social care visas to new overseas applications,” the Home Office stated, emphasizing that the UK must “move away from reliance on low-wage overseas recruitment” and instead invest in domestic training and workforce development.

However, care workers already in the UK will be allowed to extend or switch their visas until 2028. During this period, the government plans to implement a long-term domestic training strategy to fill the resulting workforce gap.

The White Paper also introduces a new definition of skilled work under the UK’s points-based system, raising salary, educational, and English proficiency thresholds for visa eligibility. Additionally, the Immigration Salary List, which previously allowed employers to offer lower wages for hard-to-fill roles, will be abolished.

“Skilled must mean skilled,” the paper states. “Work that does not meet the bar will no longer be eligible for a visa—regardless of sector.”

Employers will also be required to demonstrate serious efforts to hire locally before seeking foreign workers, especially in sectors that have historically depended on migrant labour.

“No employer should be allowed to default to migration,” the Home Office emphasized. “We are rebalancing the system to reward training, not reliance.”

UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described the reform as “a bold, necessary reset” to address unsustainable migration levels and restore faith in the immigration system.

“We must end the perception that immigration is a substitute for skills planning,” she added.

The new policy also makes it clear that temporary migration routes will no longer be converted into permanent residency paths.

This development directly impacts thousands of foreign workers—many from Nigeria and other countries—who had previously used the social care route to migrate under what is popularly known as the “Japa” wave.