Foreign health workers may be allowed to bring only one dependent to UK: Report

London: Under new curbs on immigration planned by the UK government, foreign health and care workers will be allowed to bring only one relative with them to the country, media reports said.

The curbs are part of a five-point plan by Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick and come a day after the country's annual net migration hit a record high of 745,000 in 2022, The Times reported.

Out of the 282,742 health and care visas issued to health and care workers in the year till June, 151,774 were issued to their dependents.

According to the Office of National Statistics, which released the figures, the rise was driven by three factors -- more non-EU migrants coming for work; students staying longer, and an increase in the number of family members accompanying them.

After study, the next biggest contributor to non-EU immigration was migrants coming for work, particularly to fill shortages in the health and social care sectors, which rose to 33 per cent, from 23 per cent in the year ending June 2022.

The next largest contributor was migrants coming for work -- having risen, and largely attributed to people on health and care visas.

India was among the top three non-EU nationalities for immigration in the year to June with 35,091 Indian health and care workers bringing 47,432 relatives during the period.

According to The Guardian, Jenrick has also proposed that foreign workers be paid 20 per cent below the going rate in roles where there is a shortage of skilled workers. However, calls to curb the number of foreign workers in the NHS and social care are likely to be met with resistance by health officials amid acute labour shortages across the health and care sector, the report said.