Immigration News Update – 30 October 2026
The Autumn Budget is the main story in UK immigration this week. Alongside its tax and spending measures, HM Treasury set out reforms to the Skilled Worker, Graduate route , High Potential Individual and Global Talent routes, with the stated aim of creating the most pro-business migration system in Europe for highly skilled workers.
In this item of news also covers the revised impact assessment for the international student levy, new data on student visa refusals, scrutiny of Skilled Worker sponsors in the food service sector, and a new report on the Home Office’s use of artificial intelligence.
UK Budget 2026: immigration changes for highly skilled workers
Chancellor John Healey’s first Budget set out a package of immigration measures aimed at highly skilled workers and international graduates, while keeping in place the tighter rules for lower and medium-skilled routes. HM Treasury links the reforms to supporting employers who are struggling to recruit and to making visa criteria reflect labour market conditions across every region of the UK. Most of the changes are due to take effect in 2027, and the main points for each route are set out below.
Skilled Worker visa: lower occupation salary thresholds from spring 2027
From spring 2027, the government will implement the Migration Advisory Committee’s (MAC) recommendations on visa salary requirements. Occupation-specific minimum salaries, known as going rates, will be reduced from the median to the 25th percentile of earnings for each occupation. All salary thresholds will then be updated every year using the latest ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data.
The general salary threshold, currently £41,700 for most Skilled Worker applicants, will be uprated using 2026 wage data, so the headline minimum is expected to rise rather than fall. The existing new entrant discounts will be merged into a single figure for those studying, recently graduated or in professional training, and the PhD discount will be removed. Lower going rates may help sponsors in some occupations, but the overall cost of sponsorship is unlikely to come down.
Skilled Worker visa: up to six months to find a new sponsor
The highest skilled sponsored workers will be able to access a visa curtailment period of up to six months if their sponsorship ends, in place of the current 60-day period. The length of the period will depend on how long the worker was employed in their previous, highly paid role, with implementation planned for 2027.
The change gives workers more time to secure a new sponsor or move to another immigration route without leaving the UK and allows employers to recruit skilled staff who are already in the country. The salary or skill level needed to qualify for the longer period has not yet been published.
Graduate visa: two years for high-compliance universities
The Graduate visa is due to be shortened from two years to 18 months from January 2027. The Budget confirms that graduates of high-compliance universities with strong labour market outcomes will still receive a two-year Graduate visa, partially reversing the planned reduction for those institutions.
The Budget does not yet explain how a high-compliance university will be identified, what will count as strong labour market outcomes, or whether eligibility will be linked to the Basic Compliance Assessment (BCA) for student sponsors. The Russell Group welcomed the announcement, saying it would help protect the UK’s reputation as a study destination.
High Potential Individual visa: extended to the world’s top 150 institutions
The High Potential Individual (HPI) visa, which allows recent graduates of leading overseas universities to work in the UK without sponsorship, will be opened to graduates of the top 150 global institutions. The route was last widened in November 2025, when eligibility was extended to universities ranked in the global top 100 and an annual cap of 8,000 applications was introduced.
The Budget states that the cap will increase in proportion to the wider eligibility, although the new cap and start date have not yet been confirmed. For employers, the change enlarges the pool of overseas graduates who can be recruited without a Certificate of Sponsorship.
Global Talent visa: more businesses to act as endorsed funders
Since Budget 2025, the endorsed funder pathway of the Global Talent visa has been opened to more than 100 research and development (R&D) intensive businesses, allowing them to support leading scientists and engineers to work in UK industry. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will now work with organisations across the UK to identify further R&D-intensive businesses in Industrial Strategy sectors that could act as host organisations, with this work due by spring 2027.
Sponsor costs: Immigration Skills Charge and CoS fees not a benefit in kind
Legislation in Finance Bill 2026-27 will confirm that an employer’s payment of the Immigration Skills Charge or a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) fee is not treated as a taxable benefit in kind for the sponsored worker. The change applies to payments made on or after 28 October 2026.
The measure settles a long-standing question for sponsors over the tax treatment of these costs. Employers may wish to review their payroll and benefits arrangements, bearing in mind the position that applied to payments made before Budget Day.
Work and study visa applications: a continued decline in the number of applications recorded
Provisional Home Office figures for the year ending September 2026 show Skilled Worker visa applications from main applicants fell by 43% to 26,400, with dependant applications down 25% to 35,500. Health and Care Worker applications dropped by 63% to 7,500, which is 95% below the peak of 161,700 in the year ending November 2023. Sponsored study visa applications fell by 19% to 352,500, and student dependant applications by 31% to 15,700.
The Seasonal Worker route was the exception, rising by 8% to 42,100 applications, while Youth Mobility Scheme applications fell by 5% to 20,700. The falls follow the July 2025 changes, which raised the Skilled Worker skill level to RQF 6, increased the general salary threshold to £41,700 and closed overseas recruitment for care workers. The figures count applications only and do not show grants, refusals or the number of migrants in the UK.
Full coverage on the procedure, rules and regime on Work visas and Sponsor Licence covered in Module 7 of Mastering Immigration Law. To unlock, subscribe HERE
Student visa: Refusals rise as CAS issuance falls
Data from Enroly’s UK university partner network show Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) issuance fell by 23.7% for the September 2026 intake, while offer acceptances fell by 13.8%. Only 57.2% of accepted students progressed to a CAS, compared with 76.0% last year, and student visa refusals rose by 43.5% year on year. Across all nationalities, 4.5% of students who had received a visa decision were refused.
Refusals were concentrated among applicants from Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India and Ghana, which together accounted for 79.6% of the total. Pakistan saw the steepest fall, with CAS issuance down 62.7% as several universities paused recruitment following tighter compliance rules, while China (up 2.0%) and Nepal (up 15.5%) recorded growth. The figures come as universities work to keep visa refusal rates below the 5% Basic Compliance Assessment threshold.
Right to Work Checks: Skilled Worker sponsors in the food service sector under scrutiny
Analysis of the register of licensed sponsors found that more than 3,600 takeaway and mobile food businesses hold a licence to sponsor Skilled Worker visas, including over 1,000 restaurants, cafés and takeaways in London, 330 of them in Westminster. Of the 122,740 businesses on the register, nearly half operate in industries the Low Pay Commission classes as low-paying, and restaurants and mobile food services make up almost one in ten sponsors.
The findings prompted calls from opposition parties and industry bodies for closer checks on sponsors, given that median pay in the sector sits below the £41,700 general salary threshold. The Home Office was approached for comment. Sponsors in every sector remain responsible for meeting the route’s skill and salary requirements and their sponsor licence compliance duties.
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Asylum Update: Report examines the Home Office’s use of AI in immigration
The Open Rights Group (ORG) has published a report, Automated Discrimination: Unpacking the Digital Hostile Environment, on the Home Office’s growing use of artificial intelligence across the immigration system. It covers tools used or trialled to estimate the age of asylum seekers, summarise asylum interviews, prioritise asylum claims, search mobile phones and flag potential sham marriages, as well as live facial recognition trialled at the Port of Holyhead and the Cerberus risk assessment project.
The report raises concerns about bias in AI outputs, the accuracy of AI-generated summaries of asylum interviews, limited transparency and reliance on private technology suppliers. It makes five recommendations, including stronger regulation of high-risk systems and greater transparency and public accountability.
Full coverage on the procedure, rules and regime on Asylum covered in Module 8 of Mastering Immigration Law. To unlock, subscribe HERE
IAA Registration and Exam Updates: new process announced
The Immigration Advice Authority (IAA), paused all registration applications on 28 October 2026, while it brings in a revised application process from 17 November 2026. Under the new process, anyone who needs to sit a competence assessment must pass it before they can be added to an organisation’s application or apply to set up their own organisation.
This removes a common cause of delay. Applicants will also need to give key details, including employment history and right to work information, when they submit their application. Applications already in the system will be dealt with under the previous process.
Advisers who are exempt from the competence assessment can still join a regulated organisation through the exemption route. The online competence assessment remains paused, and the IAA expects assessments to resume from November 2026, although high demand may cause some delays. READ FULL CHANGES AT OUR BLOG HERE
SEE OUR IAA COURSES TO PREPARE FOR LEVEL 1, LEVEL 2 AND LEVEL 3 HERE
Do not forget to book Sacha Special Courses: sponsor licences and right to work checks
With the Budget confirming changes to Skilled Worker salary thresholds and sponsorship costs, and sponsor licence holders in sectors such as food service facing closer scrutiny, business immigration advisers need to be fully up to date.
HJT Training’s Sacha Special offers two online courses with Sacha Wooldridge of Birketts LLP on Thursday 5th and Thursday 12th November 2026, 4pm to 5:30pm.
The Sponsor Licence Masterclass covers applications, Certificates of Sponsorship, sponsor duties and managing audits. The Right to Work Checks – the new illegal working regime will cover which extended right to work checks to non-traditional working arrangements and widened the civil penalty under the latest changes.
Both courses are available together for £99 + VAT and contribute to your CPD requirements, so book now to secure your place. VISIT HERE FOR MORE
Home Office Guidance and Policy Updates
To view the Home Office Guidance and Policies updated between to 23rd October 2026 to 29th October 2026, visit here
What’s On
Right to Work Checks – New Illegal Working Regime 1 October 2026
Judicial Review Conference 2026
Immigration Law Review of the Year 2026
For assistance with booking, email us at enquiries@hjt-training.co.uk or call us on 07446466898
Useful Links
HM Treasury, Budget 2026 policy paper (28 October 2026)
Budget unveils reforms to create Europe’s most pro-business migration system (28 October 2026)
UK to extend graduate visa to two years for graduates of high-compliance universities
UK unis to take £1,010m hit over international student levy
Enroly: UK CAS issuance falls 24% as visa refusals jump 44%
UK work visa applications fall 43% and student visa applications drop 19%
Home Office, Monthly entry clearance visa applications: September 2026
Chicken shops creating visa loophole for migrants
Report warns use of AI in immigration system is creating an automated hostile environment
Written by Shareen Khan, Legal Content Writer, HJT Training
Disclaimer: This blog post is intended for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Immigration advisors should consult the full decisions and official policy documents when advising clients on specific cases.