Budget 2026: What does it mean for immigration?

The Autumn 2026 Budget made several announcements in relation to immigration, with a particular focus on being ‘pro-business’ and welcoming international talent.

The highlights include some welcome steps forward and some even more welcome steps back in time.

Graduate status

The political ping-pong with the immigration route for graduates of UK universities continues. Graduates of Bachelors and Masters degrees have been receiving permission valid for two years, and are due to have this decreased to 18 months from 1 January 2027 onwards. It was announced that for those graduating “from high compliance universities where there are strong labour market outcomes”, they will continue to receive Graduate permission for two years.  

High Potential Individuals

This immigration route is currently open to graduates of the top 100 universities in the world, who completed their degree within the last five years. Eligibility for the route is set to expand to the top 150 institutions in the world. The next list of eligible qualifications is due to be published in early November, however, it is not clear when these changes will come into force.

Taxable benefits in kind

Legalisation is on the way to formalise that Certificate of Sponsorship and Immigration Skills Charge payments made by employers are not treated as taxable benefits in kind. This will apply to all payments made from the date of the budget (28 October 2026) onwards. These costs are always payable by the sponsoring employer and cannot be passed on to (or clawed back from) the employee. 

Curtailment periods

Plans were announced to increase the curtailment period for highly skilled workers of “up to six months”. We expect that the intention is to therefore increase the curtailment period from the current 60 days only for those who are sponsored under RQF level 6 SOC codes, when their sponsorship has come to an end. This would give significant breathing room to those seeking a new role in the UK, but will require careful clarification on who it applies to and any restrictions on travel during this period.

Salary thresholds for sponsored workers

Recommendations made by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) are expected to be implemented, relating to the occupation-specific minimum salary thresholds for sponsored workers. These had moved up to the UK median salary for Skilled Worker roles in recent years, and are expected to drop back to the 25^th percentile which was previously used, reducing the required salary levels for some categories of workers and hopefully expanding which organisations can afford to sponsor talented individuals to work for them in the UK. With the other requirements remaining in force, including a likely increase to the general salary threshold for sponsorship, it will be interesting to see how many organisations will benefit in practice. 

We will be closely monitoring the implementation of these changes.