The Home Office has come under fire from MPs for failing to track whether foreign workers leave the UK once their skilled worker visas expire, raising fresh concerns over illegal working and oversight of immigration enforcement.
A new report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), published on Friday, accuses the department of showing “little curiosity” about how the skilled worker visa system is functioning, and not conducting any meaningful analysis of exit records since the visa route was launched in 2020.
More than 1.18 million people have entered the UK on skilled worker visas since December 2020, when the route was introduced to replace the previous Tier 2 visa following Brexit. The scheme was expanded in 2022 to address critical shortages in sectors like health and social care, driving a sharp increase in net migration.
However, the PAC says the Home Office has failed to gather basic data on whether those visa holders have left the country after their permissions expired. The department is still relying on airline passenger manifests, which it has not analysed since 2020.
“There is no excuse for not knowing whether people who come to the UK on skilled worker visas are leaving when they should,” the report says. “The public expects an immigration system that is fair, effective, and properly enforced – and this one is not.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper acknowledged the system had not been strong enough. Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said “change doesn’t happen at the flick of a switch,” but confirmed that biometric checks at workplaces – including fingerprint verification – would be introduced to help enforce visa rules.
The report also highlights widespread concerns over exploitation within the skilled worker route. It cited “debt bondage, excessive working hours and poor conditions” in some sectors, particularly care. MPs accused the department of being “slow and ineffective” in responding to these abuses.
In May, the government announced it would end overseas recruitment for care worker roles as part of efforts to reduce net migration, which reached nearly one million in 2023.
Home Office Permanent Secretary Dame Antonia Romeo admitted that overstaying “is a problem” the department is working to fix.
Migration experts say deeper reforms are needed. Dr Madeleine Sumption, director of the Migration Observatory at Oxford University, told BBC Radio 4 that the current system lacks transparency and is failing to help workers navigate job changes when their circumstances shift.
“It doesn’t seem to be hugely effective,” she said. “This is going to remain a challenge for the Home Office for some time.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This report affirms again that the previous government’s decision five years ago to relax visa controls helped drive record migration levels. We’ve now rolled up our sleeves to fix the broken immigration system.”
Measures already introduced include suspending a record number of sponsor licences, raising skill thresholds, and ending care sector recruitment from abroad. Further reforms are expected in an Immigration Whitepaper later this year.
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MPs slam Home Office for failing to track foreign workers after visa expiry