On May 12, 2025, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to significantly reduce net migration by 2029, attributing the country’s chronic economic stagnation to long-standing deficiencies in skills development. To address this, he introduced a white paper focused on enhancing skills and training across the United Kingdom. Starmer emphasized that improving domestic workforce capabilities would reduce reliance on immigration and better meet labor market demands .

This announcement follows earlier measures to tighten immigration rules, including increasing the residency period for settlement and citizenship, restricting skilled worker visas to graduate-level applicants, and raising English language requirements for adult dependents . These steps aim to reduce net migration and enhance migrant integration.

Source: Reuters