On New Year’s Eve, many were focused on celebrating the arrival of whatever 2025 may bring, but behind the scenes the Home Office introduced some significant changes to immigration policy. These updates have been quietly implemented as part of the government’s ongoing ‘crackdown’ on alleged abuse of the UK immigration system, but some could have far-reaching implications. In the absence of a thorough understanding of the relevant rules and guidance, even well-intentioned businesses could find themselves at the receiving end of a licence application refusal (following which there is a 6-month cooling off period before a new application can be submitted) or, worse, revocation of the licence for existing sponsors.
In this post we summarise the key changes.