UK Immigration Rules

The UK Immigration Rules form the backbone of the country’s immigration policy, dictating who can enter, stay, and work in the UK.  A Statement of Changes is a formal document that amends these rules, introducing new requirements, modifying existing ones, or clarifying their application. Published periodically and laid before Parliament, these statements become law unless overturned.

HC 733, released on 12th March 2025, is the latest update, addressing diverse aspects of immigration from visa requirements for specific nationalities to adjustments in post-Brexit and humanitarian schemes.

In this blog post, we’ll dive into the key points of these changes in simpler terms and explore the wider impacts

Key Changes from HC 733

Prioritising Unsponsored Care Workers in England

• A big change targets care workers and senior care workers, driven by a growing number of visa holders left without sponsorship, often because their employers couldn't provide enough for or lost their sponsor licences.
• HC 733 now requires sponsors in England to first tap into this pool of existing workers seeking new jobs before recruiting fresh talent from overseas or other visa routes.
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  To enforce this, sponsors must get confirmation from a regional or sub-regional partnership (think local workforce boards) that they’ve tried and failed to find suitable candidates from this group.

Salary Floor Rises to £25,000

• The minimum salary for Skilled Worker visas is jumping from £23,200 per year (£11.90/hour) to £25,000 per year (£12.82/hour). This annual tweak, based on the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data, keeps wages in step with UK pay trends and well above the National Living Wage (set to rise in April 2025).
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  With an Immigration White Paper looming, HC 733 keeps things simple for now, just updating the baseline, though bigger shifts might be on the horizon.

HC 733 tightens rules on what can be deducted from a Skilled Worker’s salary, aiming to:

• Match how paid allowances (e.g., housing or travel) are treated for fairness.
• Stop sponsors from offloading sponsorship costs, like visa fees, onto workers.
• Close a loophole where applicants could “invest” in their sponsor’s business to artificially boost their salary on paper.

'New Entrant’ Discounts Tied to UK Qualifications

For applicants claiming a lower “new entrant” salary (a discount for those starting out, like recent grads or trainees), HC 733 adds a twist: any training toward a professional qualification must now lead to a UK-recognised credential. So, if you’re banking on this reduction, say, while training as a nurse or engineer, that qualification needs UK accreditation.

Introduced to support Ukrainians fleeing the ongoing Russian invasion, the Homes for Ukraine scheme allows eligible individuals to enter the UK with a sponsor’s support. HC 733 refines this program with targeted updates:

Updates to the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme

Previously, a concession introduced on 31st January 2025 allowed Ukrainian nationals with permission to stay in the UK under any Ukraine Scheme to sponsor their minor children, addressing a gap that had prevented some families from reuniting. HC 733 builds on this by formalising a pathway for those granted Leave Outside the Rules (LOTR) before this concession, due to expire soon, to transition into the UPE Scheme.

Additionally, the definition of a “parent” under this scheme has been amended to exclude step-parents, aligning it with similar changes made elsewhere in the Immigration Rules in 2024.

Updates to the Ukraine Permission Extension Scheme (UPE)

• The UPE Scheme, launched on 4th February 2025 allows Ukrainian nationals and their eligible family members already in the UK under existing Ukraine Schemes to apply for an additional 18 months of permission to stay.
  
• HC 733 reinforces this by ensuring transitional provisions for those with expiring LOTR grants, enabling them to apply for the UPE before their current leave runs out.

As the war in Ukraine continues into its third year, HC 733 underscores the UK’s commitment to adapting its humanitarian response. However, with the Ukraine Extension Scheme closed to new applicants since 4th February 2025, and the Homes for Ukraine Scheme as the primary entry route (now offering 18 months instead of 36), options for new arrivals are narrowing.

3.  Updates to the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS)

The EU Settlement Scheme, designed to secure the rights of EU, EEA, and Swiss citizens living in the UK before Brexit, sees several updates in HC 733. These changes primarily affect family reunification and application refusals.

• One tweak allows non-EEA nationals applying to the EUSS to use a UK-issued biometric residence card or permit that’s expired by up to 18 months as valid proof of identity and nationality. Even better, if you’re using an expired biometric residence card, you won’t need to re-enroll your fingerprints.
• For example, someone whose card expired in September 2023 could still use it for an application in March 2025, smoothing the path to pre-settled or settled status.
  

Protection During Administrative Reviews

• If you’ve applied for an administrative review of an EUSS decision (e.g., challenging a rejection or status downgrade), HC 733 confirms you’re safe from removal while it’s pending, as long as you haven’t left the UK or are granted entry (not on immigration bail).
  

Merging Error Correction into One System

•  Administrative Review is getting a cleanup to avoid duplication with the free error correction team, which fixes slip-ups like wrong conditions or time periods on visa grants.
  
• Previously, this team handled out-of-country cases, but HC 733 expands its reach to in-country errors too, like if your visa says “no work allowed” by mistake or cuts your stay short. To keep things tidy, these fixable errors are being pulled out of the Administrative Review scope entirely. Instead, they’ll go straight to the error correction team.
  

You Must Be in the UK to Challenge a Refusal

A new validity rule says if you’re applying for Administrative Review after a refusal of permission to stay (e.g., an extension to your visa), you’ve got to be physically in the UK when you submit it. This stops scenarios where someone leaves the country, applies from abroad, and then can’t return even if they win, since permission to stay only works if you’re already here.

One Type of Leave at a Time

• The validity rules to ensure you’re only considered for one type of leave (permission to stay) at once. Before, someone could theoretically apply for multiple statuses (like Skilled Worker and EUSS) and end up with conflicting grants if both succeeded. Now, the system locks you into a single track during Administrative Review, avoiding confusion or double-dipping.
  

One of the headline changes in HC 733 is the imposition of a visa regime on nationals of Trinidad and Tobago. Previously, citizens of this Caribbean country could visit the UK using an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA): a streamlined, online process. Now, they must apply for a full visitor visa in advance.

Details of the Change:

• Effective immediately following the publication of HC 733, Trinidad and Tobago nationals require a visitor visa for entry.
• A transitional period has been established: individuals with an existing ETA and a confirmed booking to the UK made before 3:00 PM on March 12, 2025, can still travel visa-free, provided they arrive by 3:00 PM on April 23, 2025 (giving a six-week grace period).
  

Rationale:

• A surge in asylum claims from Trinidad and Tobago national – 209 claims in Q4 2024 alone, compared to an annual average of 49 pre-2020 – strained border operations. The majority of asylum claims were made at UK ports, diverting staff from other priorities.
• The UK will monitor Trinidad and Tobago’s internal security situation and asylum trends post-implementation to assess the policy’s effectiveness.
  
  

For the full publication, you can read the government’s statement of changes and an accompanying explanatory memorandum linked here.

Contact Migrate UK

If you have any questions on the above or would like any immigration advice, please get in touch with the expert immigration team at Migrate UK info@migrate-uk.com.