The White Paper highlights the importance of having an immigration system that is clear, consistent, and fair. It sets out plans to simplify family and private life routes, clarify the role of exceptional circumstances under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) , and strengthen protections for vulnerable groups while incorporating lessons from the Windrush scandal. It also proposes updates to enforcement, including measures on visa compliance, irregular migration, illegal working, and foreign national offenders, with the aim of improving the system’s transparency and effectiveness.
Key proposals include:
Family Migration
- Reforming family migration rules to simplify complex arrangements and reduce “exceptional circumstances” cases.
- Introducing a new family policy covering all UK residents, with:
- Clear relationship requirements to ensure genuine partnerships, prevent forced marriage, and protect victims of abuse
- English language standards to support integration
- Financial requirements to ensure families can be supported without public funds
- Specific protections for Armed Forces personnel and their dependants.
- Clear relationship requirements to ensure genuine partnerships, prevent forced marriage, and protect victims of abuse
- Tightening suitability rules for family routes, including updated English language requirements for adult dependants and a review of financial thresholds.
- Establishing a clearer framework for Article 8 (right to family life) cases, endorsed by Parliament, to balance individual rights with wider social and economic considerations.
- Bringing forward legislation to:
- Strengthen the public interest test
- Clarify how Article 8 applies across immigration routes
- Set clear criteria for exceptional circumstance claims.
- Strengthen the public interest test
Worker protections and exploitation
- Raising the Skilled Worker visa threshold to RQF 6 to reduce exploitation in lower-skilled roles.
- Increasing accountability of sponsors, including exploring easier mobility for workers between sponsors to reduce dependence on single employers.
- Reviewing visa routes vulnerable to exploitation, including domestic worker visas.
- Introducing a new offence of child exploitation to target criminal gangs.
- Strengthening protections for victims of domestic abuse, including migrant victims, to support reporting and action without fear of immigration consequences.
Windrush response
- Resetting the Home Office’s approach to addressing the Windrush scandal.
- Re-establishing the Windrush Unit to deliver systemic and cultural change.
- Appointing a Windrush Commissioner as an independent advocate for affected communities.
- Embedding the findings of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review and Equality and Human Rights Commission Action Plan to strengthen equality and ethical standards in decision-making.
Refugee sponsorship and resettlement
- Reviewing refugee sponsorship and resettlement schemes to ensure a clear and sustainable framework.
- Expanding opportunities for businesses, universities, and community groups to sponsor refugees to live, work, and study in the UK.
Enforcement
- Simplifying and speeding up deportation processes for foreign national offenders (FNOs), including for non-custodial offences, and redefining “serious crime” to exclude sex offenders from asylum protections.
- Increasing removals of those with no right to remain and taking earlier action against new arrivals who commit crimes.
- Tightening controls on asylum claims made without material changes in home country circumstances, and increasing scrutiny of late or repeat applications.
- Reintroducing visa requirements or applying tighter controls where visa-free travel or specific visa routes are linked to misuse.
- Expanding eVisas and ETA systems to track overstayers, improve compliance, and share secure data with employers, landlords, and government bodies.
- Establishing a Border Security Command with counter-terrorism style powers to tackle organised crime, smuggling, and national security threats.
- Tackling illegal working through stronger penalties for employers, expanded raids in high-risk sectors, and tougher rules for sponsors.
- Extending financial enforcement by applying banking restrictions more widely and working with HMRC and Treasury on unpaid taxes.
- Strengthening safeguards, including applying Windrush lessons to digital status systems and improving protections for vulnerable groups.