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.

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

Managing Redundancies and Related Immigration Issues in Challenging Times Changes introduced under the Employment Rights Act mean that redundancies are getting riskier. If incorrectly managed, employers could face more time-consuming, expensive and reputationally damaging claims. The current economic climate, coupled with the AI revolution, seems likely to lead to more redundancies as businesses look to reshape their workforce. In our upcoming webinar, “Managing redundancies

With official figures showing UK redundancies are rising, our immigration partner, Alex Finch, writing for Employer News, looks at how losing your job creates serious consequences for workers on sponsored visas. For Skilled Worker visa holders, dismissal affects not only employment but also immigration status, family stability and long-term settlement plans. Employers must notify the Home Office within 10 working days after employment ends, triggering a visa cancellation pro

The Home Office has opened a major consultation on plans to overhaul the UK settlement system—proposals that could reshape long-term migration routes, employer sponsorship strategies, and the expectations of anyone currently working toward Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR). These changes, set out in the policy paper A Fairer Pathway to Settlemen t , are among the most far-reaching in years. In our latest episode of The Employment Law Podcast, our immigration partners, Alex F