My review of the BBC's migration coverage was published yesterday. It's quite long so here is the 6-point summary.
bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/20…

New monthly stats on work & study visa applications show numbers were already falling before the March/April restrictions came in
Particularly big drop in health & care main applicants may be related to HO crackdown on sponsorship in care sector late last year

New proposal from EU to negotiate Youth Mobility visa scheme with UK

They're suggesting much more generous conditions to the young people than UK youth schemes currently offer (e.g. 4 years not 2, no 'excessive' fees, home tuition for study)

ec.europa.eu/commission/pre…

The new income requirement for family visas comes into effect today. Our estimates suggest that 50% of employees don't earn enough to bring a foreign partner to UK under this initial phase. By 2025, when phase 3 starts, this figure could rise to 70% 👉migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/comm…

At the #UKDSPovertyInData Early Career Researchers workshop we'll have a Q&A panel with some past Data Impact Fellows
Find out more about the panel & how to register in our latest Data Impact blog post: blog.ukdataservice.ac.uk/poverty-in-dat…
Dr Christian Reynolds, Bożena Wielgoszewska, Ben Brindle Rachel Oldroyd

How much does it cost to stay in the UK?

Take a look at our interactive chart to see how much a migrant would pay depending on their visa route, length of stay, and whether they bring a partner or children.

The government has taken steps to reduce net migration and raise more money for the Home Office. They may achieve both of these goals, but could impact migrants' wellbeing in the process

Take a look at our new commentaries on visa fees and the ban on care workers' dependants 👇

Higher salary rules for Skilled Workers in force today, including £38,700 'general threshold''. Does it matter?

TLDR: Hugely different impacts depending on type of job (mid-skilled vs. high-paying vs. public sector)

THREAD

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/comm…

'When allocating work visas for immigration, the public would prefer the government to prioritise migration to address shortages at all skill levels (52%) than attracting people for highly skilled roles (26%).' ipsos.com/en-uk/immigrat…

Counterintuitively, this means asylum seekers could no longer work in higher-paid jobs that were excluded from salary list due to their high pay and not because they’re not in shortage – e.g. engineering & computer programmer roles.

Little-noticed point in new immigration rules: govt further restricted asylum seeker work rights

It accepted MAC recommendation to reduce # of jobs on ‘immigration salary list’ but *rejected* recommendation not to use the list to decide which jobs asylum seekers can do

From…

Part of the reason for the surprising recovery in funded ESOL places is the devolution of the Adult Education Budget to Mayoral Combined Authorities in 2019.

E.g, in London the government increased ESOL funding and widened the eligibility criteria following the transfer.

We're often asked to quantify the exploitation of migrant workers in the care sector. That's currently not possible. But it's clear that qualitative findings like this will only be possible when the problem is really widespread.
thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-0…

As the ban on care worker dependents comes in, read Madeleine Sumption and Ben Brindle's contribution on migration in our recent report on the state of the UK economy 👇

ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/upl…

Big picture from today’s visa stats: total visa grants flat in 2023 – not falling, as previously expected—because of increase in health & care visas

But in theory health/care visas should fall this year, for 2 reasons

1/3

Family and work migrants were the most likely to acquire settlement in 2022, but for different reasons. Family migrants have higher stay rates, whereas work migration is a much larger migration route.

Take a look at our updated briefing to find out more:

In December the government announced a significant increase in the minimum annual income required by UK citizens and long term residents wishing to bring a foreign partner - from £18,600 to £38,700. Our commentary on the new family income requirement, 'Family Fortunes' is out…

We've updated our briefing on migrants in the UK labour market. In it, we take a look at migrants’ employment and unemployment rates, as well as the jobs they do in the UK.

migrationobservatory.ox.ac.uk/resources/brie…

🤔 What are the key questions facing economic policymakers thinking about migration in the UK?

Ben Brindle & Madeleine Sumption explore increases in work migration, the impact of non-work routes, and the problem of policy instability in this area.

ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/upl…

The ONS revised up its net migration estimate for 2022, in part due to evidence suggesting more students are staying in the UK after their studies.

But net migration might not be any lower than a world when students left once their courses were over. Our analysis explains why👇