UK Immigration Crackdown Sparks Heartache for Kenyan Families as They Face Separation
Kenyan caregivers may encounter family separation, as the United Kingdom (UK) has declared a prohibition on the migration of dependents of care workers to the country, starting from Monday, March 11.
The UK government declared that its policy choice has been influenced by the objective of decreasing the influx of migrants to the nation. The Home Office highlighted that a significant proportion of these migrants comprise dependents of care workers.
In a statement, the UK Home Office stated that this would be part of the biggest-ever cut in migration.
“From today, care workers entering the UK on Health and Care Worker visas can no longer bring dependants,” the UK government explained.
Further, the Office clarified that in the year ended September 2023, care worker dependants accounted for 120,000 migrations.
James Cleverly, the UK’s Home Secretary explained that this migration cut would also include raising the minimum income requirement for families to be granted visas in the UK.
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Additionally, the Secretary also noted that in the series of migration cuts they had banned most overseas students from bringing their families to the UK.
“We are delivering on our plan for the biggest-ever cut in migration. Overseas care workers brought an estimated 120,000 dependants to the UK in the year ending Sep 23. Today we’ve put a stop to this, stated James Cleverly”
The ban was authorized by the UK parliament on February 19, 2024, after being announced in December 2023.
Data shared by Skills for Care, a workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England, showed that there were 1.64 million adult social care jobs(filled posts) in England in 2022/23, across 18,000 organizations.
However, despite the increase in the number of filled posts by March 2023, it was still estimated to be 45,000 below its pre-pandemic peak in 2020/21.
The move has faced both criticism and appraisal with critics citing that the move would discourage the migration of care workers yet the sector has yet to achieve ideal staffing levels.
UK Immigration Crackdown Sparks Heartache for Kenyan Families as They Face Separation
