United Kingdom | Updated immigration rules presented to Parliament

The U.K. government presented several changes to immigration rules, including changes to foreign nationals requiring a visit visa and English language requirements for certain foreign national workers. A Statement of Changes was presented to Parliament on Oct. 14, 2025.

Key Points:

The following outlines a few key changes:

• Botswana will be removed from the list of countries whose nationals are eligible to apply for an Electronic Travel Authorization. Nationals from Botswana will now require a visa prior to visiting the U.K., effective Oct. 14, 2025.
• The UK announced formal recognition of the state of Palestine and is adding Palestine to the Immigration Rules Appendix Visitor: Visa National List. Nationals of Palestine will now obtain a visa to visit the U.K. as a national of Palestine, rather than as citizens of the Occupied Palestinian Territory or as stateless individuals. This change is effective Nov. 11, 2025.
• The English language requirement for the Skilled Worker, High Potential Individual and Scale-up routes is increased from B1 Level to B2 Level, effective Jan. 8, 2026.
• The High Potential Individual route is doubling the list of eligible institutions and capping the number of applications to 8,000 per year, effective Nov. 4, 2025.
• The Graduate route will now allow eligible graduates who have successfully completed a U.K. bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or other relevant qualifications to remain in the U.K. for 18 months, rather than the previously allowed two years. This change applies to applications submitted on or after Jan. 1, 2027.
• Seasonal workers can spend no more than six months working in the U.K. during any rolling 10-month period, rather than any rolling 12-month period under the previous rules. This change is effective Nov. 11, 2025.

This alert has been provided by the BAL Global Practice Group.

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