The United Kingdom Government has barred more than 100 occupations from being filled by foreign workers.
Sunday PUNCH gathered that the move was a deliberate measure by UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, as part of efforts to clamp down on immigration.
The development was announced by the Home Office via its X on Saturday morning.
The government noted that the move aimed to create more opportunities for British workers while restructuring the visa system to reduce dependency on foreign labour.
The Home Office posted, “Cutting net migration means getting the fundamentals right.
“More than 100 occupations are no longer eligible for overseas recruitment – opening up more jobs for British workers. A fairer, skills-focused system is now taking shape.”
In July, Saturday PUNCH reported that panic gripped thousands of Nigerians working in the United Kingdom on Certificate of Sponsorship or Skilled Worker visas over the new regulations announced by the British government.
The UK government, in its efforts to control immigration, removed over 100 jobs, including skilled worker roles, from CoS eligibility, while the salary thresholds for other jobs on the scheme were also increased by at least 30 per cent.
The government removed lower-skilled roles (previously at RQF Level 3–5) from CoS eligibility unless they appear on a newly created Temporary Shortage Occupation List.
Some of the delisted jobs include managers and proprietors in agriculture, forestry, hospitality, and logistics (SOC 1211–1258); health, community and welfare roles such as dispensing opticians, pharmaceutical technicians, youth and community workers, and counsellors (SOC 3211–3224); protective service roles like police officers (sergeant and below), fire service officers, and prison officers (SOC 3312–3314); as well as creative and performing arts professionals, including artists, authors, translators, actors, dancers, photographers, and interior or fashion designers (SOC 3411–3429), among others.