New UK care worker visa dependent ban could split families

New care workers arriving in the UK are no longer allowed to bring dependent family members with them.

The government says the new visa rule, enforced from March 11, will bring a significant reduction in the number of people coming into the country.

Last year, 120,000 people entered as dependents alongside 100,000 care workers. But critics say the change will force families to make impossible choices.

Only those already employed as care workers in the UK and on a Health and Care Worker visa dated before March 11 can apply for their defendants to stay. New entries are barred from doing so. 

Olabode Adigun and his wife Oluwatobi moved to the UK from Nigeria last year. The couple were excited to start a new life in the UK, selling all of their possessions in Nigeria to pay student fees of over $15,000 and an immigration health surcharge of $1,500 each.  

Oluwatobi came on a student visa to study for her master's degree and also works part-time as a health care assistant.

Her visa allowed her husband to work, as her dependent, and he is employed as a health care assistant in a psychiatric care home.

Both wanted to apply for care worker visas and start a family in the UK when Oluwatobi finished her studies. But now they face an uncertain future.

"Because of the new rule, from the 11^th of March, it means now we need to get a separate visa to guarantee our stay in the UK," Olabode told CGTN.

 "He can't be a beneficiary of my visa if I get sponsorship now, he can't be under my sponsorship… my children can't as well," Oluwatobi says.

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Dele Olawanle is a solicitor in London and has received many messages from people worried about the changes.

"It is an anti-family policy. The government is saying you don't have any choice – if you want to work, come and work, and you can abandon your family," declared Olawanle.

"People who come as skilled workers add to the value of our society; to stereotype them to see them as a burden on society is wrong," he said.

CGTN asked the UK Home Office for comment on the new immigration restrictions for care workers, but they declined to give us an interview or statement.

They provided a link to a website quoting the Home Secretary James Cleverley saying: "We cannot justify inaction in the face of clear abuse, manipulation of our immigration system and unsustainable migration numbers. It is neither right nor fair to allow this unacceptable situation to continue… we will not rest until we have delivered on our commitment to bring numbers down substantially."

Further tightening of immigration rules is expected this spring, with the UK reviewing the two-year work permit for overseas graduates of British universities.

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