Immigration Insights

by Rebecca Tester The government's decision revealed in the Chancellor's Budget to extend the grace period for highly skilled workers at the end of their sponsored employment from 60 days to 6 months is a practical move that will help individuals find alternative work or explore other visa options. This proposal gives highly skilled workers longer to find a new qualifying job, obtain a certificate of sponsorship and update their visa. This change is indicative of the governme

By Alex Finch Revision to salary rules in line with MAC recommendations, but questions over New Entrant discount remain The Budget contains a number of important business immigration announcements. Probably the most important is the decision to reduce Skilled Worker going rate requirements from the 50th percentile to the 25th percentile, from Spring 2027 (6.94). This would reverse the increase which was introduced in April 2024 under the previous Conservative administration.

By Rebecca Tester, immigration partner. The political debate over immigration in the UK is entering an interesting phase. Policy changes introduced by the previous government in early 2024, along with further changes under the current Labour government have significantly reduced net migration into the UK, which peaked at 944,000 in the year to March 2023, but had subsequently fallen to 171,000 by December 2025. We are expecting figures for 2026 to be even lower. Having alrea

This article was first published in Free Movement, 6 October 2026 R (on the application of Akinyemi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2026] EWHC 2388 (Admin) is the second reported decision on the operation of section 4L of the British Nationality Act 1981, brought into force in 2022. The claimant, who was born in the UK and has an extensive record of offending, challenged the refusal to register him as British on several grounds, but did not succeed on any of th

Join our next immigration webinar on Wednesday 14 October to hear about important changes to the employment and immigration landscape Significant changes to the right-to-work regime came into effect on 1 October. Join our next webinar, on Weds 14 October where our immigration partners Alex Finch and Rebecca Tester will discuss these changes, and their impact: The webinar will cover: ➡️ An overview of the recent changes to the right-to-work regime ➡️ Expansion of the right-to-

New technology aims to help employers and HR teams navigate increasingly complex Skilled Worker salary requirement rules PRESS RELEASE: London, 6th October 2026 – Employers struggling to work out how much they need to pay sponsored workers can now use a new free online tool from specialist employment and immigration law firm Constantine Law. The Skilled Worker Salary Assessment Tool has been designed to tackle one of the increasingly complicated parts of the UK sponsorship

A version of this article first appeared in Personnel Today on 25 September 2026. The UK government is significantly expanding the Right to Work regime from 1 October 2026 and employers are advised to review their arrangements now to ensure compliance with the new rules. The most significant change is the extension of Right to Work checks beyond traditional employees. The new regime will apply to a broader range of working arrangements. This is an important development for bu

For many UK businesses, recruiting international talent has become a vital part of growth. But sponsoring overseas workers also comes with significant legal responsibilities, and those responsibilities are coming under far greater scrutiny than ever before. The Home Office has always maintained that holding a sponsor licence is a privilege rather than a right. What has changed is the level of enforcement. Employers are seeing more compliance activity, more requests for eviden