Weekly Roundup – 11 July 2025
The highlight amongst developments in immigration news this week, is a critical parliamentary report that has exposed serious failures in the UK’s management of Skilled Worker visas. Revealing widespread exploitation of migrant workers and inadequate government oversight. The Committee of Public Accounts investigation found the Home Office implemented policy changes without proper risk assessment, leading to systemic problems that threaten both migrant welfare and immigration system integrity.
The investigation was triggered by mounting concerns over the routes rapid expansion, particularly following its extension to social care workers in 2022, amid evidence of exploitation and compliance failures.
The report reveals a system implemented without adequate risk assessment. The Home Office expanded the route to include care workers in 2022 without conducting a proper impact assessment, failing to anticipate structural challenges of applying a high-skilled worker model to the care sector.
Most concerning were findings regarding migrant exploitation. Evidence emerged of workers being charged extortionate fees, working excessive hours, and facing debt bondage. The sponsorship system created dangerous power imbalances, with UNISON’s survey revealing 15% of care workers had paid money to employers before arriving in the UK.
Compliance mechanisms proved inadequate. Despite revoking 470 care provider licences, only 1% of sponsors received enhanced compliance checks in 2024, raising serious questions about system integrity.
Whilst the Home Office processed 94% of ‘straightforward’ applications within service standards, it failed to provide transparency on ‘complex’ cases (18% of applications), which are excluded from public reporting and can take over 100 days to resolve.
The Committee criticised the Home Office customer services target of 80% satisfaction, effectively accepting one in five applicants will be dissatisfied.
Following the investigation, the government published its Immigration White Paper announcing the end of overseas recruitment for care workers. However, the Committee warned that implementing changes requires learning from identified failures, recommending better cross-government collaboration and comprehensive approaches to tackle exploitation.
This investigation exposes fundamental weaknesses in UK work-based immigration management, serving as a stark reminder that immigration policy must prioritise both economic needs and fundamental protections for migrant workers.
Other important news that has surfaced this week concerns the recent case of two minors. The increasing complex challenges families face when seeking leave to remain under exceptional circumstances. Despite their parents established legal status in the UK, with their mother working as a senior NHS nurse and father as a university lecturer, the Home Office initially refused the children’s applications and even threatened prosecution for overstaying. The family’s ordeal, which required media intervention, MP support, and diplomatic involvement before the Home Office agreed to “exceptionally reconsider” their case, demonstrates how difficult it has become for families to secure protection under exceptional provisions, even when separation would clearly be unreasonable.
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For the full list of updates on media news, reports and Home Office Guidance and Policy updates, SEE BELOW
News
Too late to stop small boats once people arrive in Calais, says UN migration chief – The Guardian
The head of the UN’s organisation for migration has warned that it is too late to stop people from crossing the Channel in small boats by the time they have reached northern France, as Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron prepare to announce new measures to stop overloaded dinghies setting sail from French shores to the UK.
For full report, click here
Parents rejoice as Home Office halts decision to send children back to Brazil – The Guardian
A family is celebrating after the Home Office has put a stop to its decision to send two young children back to Brazil while allowing their parents to remain in the UK.
The Guardian previously reported on the case of Guilherme Serrano, 11, and his brother Luca, eight, who have spent most of their lives in the UK with their mother, Ana Luiza Cabral Gouveia, a senior NHS nurse, and father, Dr Hugo Barbosa, a senior lecturer in computer science at the University of Exeter.
For full report, click here
France and UK expected to announce joint plan on small boat crossings – The Guardian
Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are expected to announce plans for French police to do more to block small boats crossing the Channel at a summit in London this week, but a wider deal on returning asylum seekers is still up in the air. While details remain limited, with French officials believed to be still finalising what action the country can take with boats that are already in shallow waters, an announcement is expected on Wednesday.
For full report, click here
Home Office announces ‘nationwide blitz’ on asylum seekers taking jobs – The Guardian
The Home Office has announced what it is calling a “nationwide blitz” on asylum seekers who take jobs, after recent political controversy about people in asylum hotels working as food takeaway delivery riders.
In a statement, which gave few specifics, the Home Office pledged to begin “a major operation to disrupt this type of criminality” based around enforcement teams focusing on the gig economy, particularly on delivery riders.
For full report, click here
Why do Channel migrants want to come to the UK? – BBC News UK
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed that “new and innovative solutions” are needed to tackle small boat crossings. The UK is paying France hundreds of millions of pounds to stop the boats leaving the French coast but, so far this year, the numbers of migrants arriving in the UK this way have reached record levels.
For full report, click here
UK must refuse to take male small boat migrants – BBC News UK
The UK must refuse to accept “undocumented males” arriving in the UK in small boats as part of any deal with French President Emmanuel Macron, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said. The Prime Minister is hoping to finalise an agreement on tackling small boat crossings during Macron’s three-day state visit, the first by a French president since 2008.
For full report, click here
Held migrants deprived of medicines, report says – BBC News UK
The health of detained migrants is put at risk because their medication is confiscated at ports and airports, a report has said. An Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) inspected facilities at Bristol and Cardiff airports and at Newhaven, Poole and Portsmouth ports, where migrants can be detained for up to 24 hours.
For full report, click here
Home Office ‘not checking’ when foreign worker visas expire – BBC News UK
The Home Office does not know whether foreign workers are leaving the UK or staying to work illegally after their visas expire, a cross-party committee of MPs has said. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which scrutinises government spending, said the Home Office had failed to analyse exit checks since the skilled worker visa route was introduced in 2020 under the Conservatives.
For full report, click here
Eight arrests in immigration and slavery inquiry – BBC News UK
Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of immigration offences following an investigation into modern slavery and organised immigration crime. Seven men and one woman were detained after Essex Police visited businesses in Chelmsford and Maldon to check on the welfare and legal status of the people working
For full report, click here
Case Law
Secretary of State for the Home Department v Borges [2025] EWCA Civ 784
The Court of Appeal has ruled that time spent as a non-EEA family member cannot count towards the ten-year continuous residence period required for the highest level of deportation protection. To qualify for “imperative grounds of public security” protection against deportation, individuals must hold EU citizenship throughout the entire ten-year period—acquiring citizenship partway through is insufficient and only provides the lower “serious grounds” protection threshold.
For full decision, click here
R (AK) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 1651 (Admin)
The High Court ruled the Home Office’s blanket policy of withholding evidence (such as CCTV footage) from immigration detainees making misconduct complaints was unlawful, whilst simultaneously relying on that evidence in their decisions. This breached procedural fairness by denying complainants a fair opportunity to participate in investigations, forcing policy changes to now provide full reports to complainants.
For full decision, click here
R (BLV) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 1475 (Admin)
The High Court has addressed e-filing difficulties where a judicial review claim was rejected for incomplete online party details, causing delays. Courts can remedy e-filing procedural errors by back-dating filing dates, but requests to change court-recorded dates must not be made unilaterally without copying other parties, and judges typically prefer extending time rather than back-dating.
For full decision, click here
Independent Reports
Immigration: Skilled worker visas, Thirty-Seventh Report of Session 2024–25, HC 819, Committee of Public Accounts – House of Commons
The Public Accounts Committee found the Home Office expanded Skilled Worker visas without proper assessment, receiving nearly three times more applications than expected (1.18 million by 2024). The rushed 2022 expansion to care workers led to widespread exploitation with inadequate monitoring. Poor cross-government collaboration, insufficient compliance checks (only 1% of sponsors), lack of transparency on processing times, and inadequate safeguarding for exploited workers highlight systemic failures in managing the visa route.
For full report, click here
Home Office Guidance and Documents Policy Updates
Collection: Archive: Immigration Rules has been updated on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Collection, click here
Guidance: Immigration Rules archive: 29 May 2025 to 30 June 2025 has been Published on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: St Helena: apply for a UK visa has been updated on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Falkland Islands: apply for a UK visa has been updated on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Cape Verde: Knowledge Base profile has been published on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Register of licensed sponsors: workers has been updated on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Register of licensed sponsors: students has been updated on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Interviewing suspects: caseworker has been updated on 09th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Prove your English language abilities with a secure English language test (SELT) has been updated on 08th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: China: tuberculosis test clinics for a UK visa has been updated on 08th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Global Talent: caseworker has been updated on 08th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: USA: apply for a UK visa has been updated on 07th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme has been updated on 07th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Brazil: country policy and information notes has been updated on 04th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Guidance: Assessing age for asylum applicants: caseworker has been updated on 04th July 2025. To view the updated Guidance, click here
Written by Shareen Khan – Legal Content Writer, HJT Training
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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.