Home Secretary James Cleverly writes for the Express & Star on handling legal and illegal immigration

We have been unrelenting in our work to drive down the unsustainable levels of migration, both legal and illegal, easing the pressure on our public services.

Our plan is working but there is always more to do.

I share the public’s frustration at the current levels we are seeing, but this government is delivering on our plan with a comprehensive and tough package of measures which mean that around 300,000 people who were eligible to come to the UK last year would now be unable to do so.

Many people feel forgotten in favour of cheap labour from overseas. It cannot be right to allow high levels of legal migration while more than 100,000 are unemployed in the West Midlands alone.

Work is going on across government to break down barriers to work and improve people’s job prospects. And I am toughening the rules so that fewer people will come here for low-wage jobs or as dependants.

But when we do look abroad, we will prioritise the skills we need for our economy and public services. People who come here should be adding value and contributing to our economy and must be able to pay their way.

The undercutting of British workers is not fair. So today I am laying changes in Parliament which will increase the salary threshold for a Skilled Worker visa to £38,700. And we are ending the 20 per cent going rate salary discount for shortage occupations and reforming the Shortage Occupation List. With these measures coming into force on 4 April, we are protecting the prospects of British workers and prioritising only the very best and high-skilled talent from abroad.

And today I’m making sure that anyone bringing family from abroad can financially support them. We are increasing the minimum income requirement for family visas. In order to give families certainty, we are doing it incrementally starting at £29,000 from 11 April, but will reach £38,700 by early 2025.

On Monday this week, new rules to address the abuse of care worker visas came into force. We now require any care provider who wants to sponsor a migrant in England to register with the Care Quality Commission, to prove they are coming to a proper care provider.

I’ve also put a stop to overseas care workers bringing dependants with them. As of September 2023, around 120,000 dependants accompanied 100,000 care workers to the UK. Only a quarter of these dependants are estimated to be in work.

From the start of this year, most international students have been restricted from bringing their dependants to the UK. And we’ve gone further – earlier this week I asked the expert and independent Migration Advisory Committee to review the Graduate route for international students. I want to ensure that applications through this route are not being driven by a desire for immigration over education. They will report back to me in May.

I recently travelled to New York to start a big, global conversation about the work we must do together to address international migration. With 281 million people on the move, we need to face up to the full scale of the challenge. In particular, we must recognise the importance of doing more, collectively, to help people to stay and thrive at home.

Immigration brings many benefits, but it must be sustainable. The people of the West Midlands expect no less. They are right to do so.