International care workers to challenge ‘cruel’ visa changes outside Westminster

Hundreds of international care workers are urging the government to abandon ‘cruel’ visa change plans as they descend on Westminster this afternoon.

Care workers plan to gather today (10 June) to hand a letter to the Prime Minister which highlights the ‘devastating impact’ the changes will have on healthcare staff and patients.

It warns that the visa changes – which plans to make care workers wait 15 years to qualify to settle in the UK, instead of the current five years – will ‘likely worsen staffing shortages and put vital services at risk’.

Staff, alongside the public service union Unison, point out in the letter that workers were recruited to help tackle chronic staffing shortages in social care on ‘the promise of being able to settle after five years’.

It goes on to say: ‘Policies that make it harder to recruit and retain care workers ultimately affect the quality and availability of care’.

Unison says international staff have become an ‘indispensable part’ of the social care sector and making it harder for them to make their home in the UK will undermine the continuity of care for vulnerable people.

Previously, a Unison survey revealed that international NHS staff have reported feeling unwelcome and unsafe in the UK. Earlier this year, the survey of almost 1,900 international health staff found that almost a quarter (23%) don’t feel welcome and nearly a fifth (19%) feel unsafe due to anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The findings also raised concerns about the future of the workforce, as more than two-fifths (43%) said they are now considering leaving the country.

Unison’s general secretary Andrea Egan said: ‘Addressing the challenges facing migrant care workers is essential to improving social care in the UK.

‘It’s clear that trebling the time it takes to settle would make the social care crisis a whole lot worse.

‘Far too many people are stuck in hospital because there isn’t the capacity to arrange the care they need to leave.

‘That puts pressures on the NHS, causes heartbreak for families and leaves vulnerable people stranded.

‘This is a cruel policy that goes against British values. Staff were recruited to fill critical gaps in the workforce on the basis that they could settle here after five years.

‘It’s an outrage to change the rules after they’ve arrived and have devoted themselves to this essential work.

‘The five-year route must remain, and the power of visa sponsorship must be removed from employers. Taking care of carers means fewer people will suffer alone.’

This follows news that there has been a ‘significant fall’ in the number of UK visas granted to international nurses.

Government statistics published in the NHS Pay Review Body (PRB) annual report, released in February, showed that the number of Health and Care Worker visas granted for nurses in the first quarter of 2025 was ‘76% lower’ than the same quarter in 2024.

NHS England told writers of the report that it had ‘stopped incentivising’ NHS trusts to recruit internationally, adding that ‘the focus was on domestic workforce supply’. However, the report stated trusts were still working to retain existing international staff.

Moreover, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) Foundation revealed in a new report this year that over the last three years it had seen a staggering increase in hardship grants given to nurses and midwives from overseas.

Internationally educated nurses and midwives (IEN/Ms) are subject to strict immigration restrictions such as having no recourse to public funds (NRPF), meaning that while they pay tax and national insurance, they have no access to welfare benefits.

Between 2022 and 2025, the RCN Foundation – which is the charity arm of the RCN – stated there had been a 475% increase in hardship grants awards to individuals with NRPF.

International care workers to challenge ‘cruel’ visa changes outside Westminster

Related articles

Most Popular