JAMES CLEVERLY: Migrants should add value and pay their way… We must prevent the abuse of the graduate route for international students

Daily Mail readers want to see a fair immigration system, and they’re right.

That’s why we are taking on people-smuggling gangs, working more effectively with France and strengthening the law so that we can stop the boats.

I’m also prioritising legal migration because I share readers’ frustrations at the numbers we are seeing. This Government is delivering a comprehensive and tough package which means around 300,000 people eligible to come to the UK last year would now be unable to do so.

People who come here should be adding value and contributing to our economy, and they must be able to pay their way.

From the start of this year, most international students have been barred from bringing their dependents to the UK.

But we are going further – today I will ask the expert and independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) to review the graduate route for international students.

We must prevent abuse of this route, protect the integrity and quality of our higher education, and ensure it works in our best interests.

I want to ensure that applications through this route are not being driven by a desire for immigration over education. The MAC will report back to me in May.

Recently I changed the rules to address the abuse of care worker visas. Overseas workers make a huge contribution to our health and care sector – like my mother, who was an NHS midwife.

In the year ending September 2023, around 120,000 dependents accompanied 100,000 care workers to the UK (Stock Image)

But from today we are requiring any care provider that wants to sponsor a migrant in England to register with the Care Quality Commission, so that we know they are coming to a proper care provider, not a rogue operator.

Also from today, I’ve put a stop to overseas care workers bringing dependents with them.

In the year ending September 2023, around 120,000 dependents accompanied 100,000 care workers to the UK. Those numbers are simply unsustainable.

And it’s not fair when cheap labour from overseas undercuts British workers. To protect them and to prioritise the very best talent from abroad, the salary threshold for a skilled worker visa will increase to £38,700 next month. And we are ending the 20 per cent going rate salary discount for shortage occupations.

This country will always do right by those in need. But coming here as a refugee is not the same thing as country-shopping or being an economic migrant. That’s why we are incrementally increasing the minimum income requirement threshold for family visas.

Immigration brings many benefits, but it must be controlled and sustainable. The British people expect no less.