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Home Secretary expected to make major U-turn on visa requirements for foreign care workers

PRITI PATEL is expected to give foreign care workers “special visas” to move to Britain after Brexit in response to fear of huge shortages in the sector.

The major government U-turn will be announced on Monday by the Home Secretary as she reveals proposals for the highly controversial new points-based immigration system.

The “health and care visa” will allow professionals in the sectors and their families to move to Britain even if their salaries don’t meet the minimum threshold — £25,600 a year — which will be required for most other roles.

Ms Patel had previously said it would be an NHS visa only. 

The U-turn follows “grave” warnings last week from 37 national care providers that plans to shut out foreign social care workers would push the sector towards an “alarming destination.” 

Currently there are 122,000 vacancies in the sector in England alone, with one in six people working in social care from overseas. 

In a letter to PM Boris Johnson, the coalition, which includes the NHS Confederation, claimed without these workers “we will see reductions in beds, care homes will close and people will be starved of the help they need and deserve in their own homes.”

The new immigration system, which will be implemented on January 1, 2021 when Britain ends free movement with the EU, will also require applicants to speak a certain level of English and have a job offer from an approved employer. 

Ms Patel will confirm Monday that international students can stay in Britain for at least two years after completing their studies. 

She said: “Now we have left the EU, we are free to unleash this country’s full potential and implement the changes we need to restore trust in the immigration system and deliver a new fairer, firmer, skills-led system from January 1 2021.”

Labour said that it is scrutinising the new visa proposals “very carefully.”

Shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said: “The government has rushed through immigration legislation with very little detail in the middle of a global pandemic.

“There are real concerns that this will cause major problems for our NHS and our care sector, at a time when we are still waiting for the government to make good on their promise to scrap the unfair immigration health surcharge for workers.”

The changes will come into effect following the enactment of the immigration Bill which passed its final stage in the House of Commons earlier this month. 

Rights groups have condemned the legislation for failing to address the hostile environment policies that led to the Windrush scandal.

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