Student update: Changes to the Immigration Rules, June & July 2025

The Home Office has recently published two statements of changes to the Immigration Rules; one was published on 24 June 2025 and the other on 1 July 2025. Both will affect immigration applications for the UK although as we will note, there is very little impact on the Student and Graduate routes.  

We have highlighted the relevant changes below. Home Office guidance to accompany these changes may not be published until on, or after, the dates the Rules become law. 

Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 836, published 24 June 2025 

Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) 

A new validity requirement will be added to the overall requirements that determine which people must apply for an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA). For applications made on or after 16 July 2025, a new sub-paragraph (Appendix Electronic Travel Authorisation ETA 1.1(f)) will require an ETA to be obtained by a “person making a local journey from the Republic of Ireland having entered that Republic from a place outside the common travel area, or having left the UK whilst having a limited leave to enter or remain there which has since expired, who is not a S2 Healthcare Visitor”. This requirement is added alongside the same requirement already made of those seeking permission to enter the UK as a Visitor and those seeking permission to enter the UK as a Creative Worker. 

Student route 

For applications made on or after 16 July 2025, one part of the requirements relating to dependants of Students has been clarified, under the subheading ‘Relationship requirement for dependent partner of a Student’ (in Appendix Student, paragraph ST 32.1). The amended paragraph clarifies that where a dependant applies at the same time as a Student, the Student’s application must be granted for the dependant to meet this requirement. The Explanatory Memorandum states that "there is no explicit provision in the student [sic] or Graduate routes to refuse dependant partners where the main applicant’s application has been refused. This change will correct this oversight and align the relationship requirement for dependent partner of a Graduate and the Student route with that of the other Points-Based System routes". 

Graduate route 

For applications made on or after 16 July 2025, a change for Graduate route dependant applicants is being made, equivalent to the change being made to those for Student route dependants (immediately above). Additionally, there is a small bit of repositioning of another part of the overall requirement paragraph. The change affects Appendix Graduate, paragraphs GR 11.1 and 11.2. 

Statement of changes to the Immigration Rules: HC 997, published 1 July 2025 

This statement of changes primarily implements in law changes to the Skilled Worker route that were previously proposed in the recent Immigration White Paper. It does not include any changes to the Graduate route, Student route, nor the proposed higher education levy.  

Skilled Worker route 

The information we list below is not exhaustive and does not cover all of the changes made to the Skilled Worker route. We focus only on relevant changes to the information we provide on our website which is written for those without Skilled Worker permission. For a full breakdown of all changes, please consult the explanatory memorandum. 

The changes below will apply to all applications made under the Skilled Worker route using Certificates of Sponsorship issued on or after 22 July 2025. If a Skilled Worker route application is made using a valid Certificate of Sponsorship that was issued before this date, it will be decided in accordance with the Rules in force on 21 July 2025 irrespective of the date of immigration application. 

New applicants to the Skilled Worker route will be required to be sponsored in an occupation that has a minimum qualification threshold of RQF level 6. This is being raised from the current level, RQF level 3. According to the explanatory memorandum to the statement of changes, this will mean that around 180 occupations will no longer be available to new applicants. This change will not affect those already sponsored under the Skilled Worker route in an occupation at RQF levels 3-5, and transitional arrangements are in place to protect those in this position, but we will not cover this in this news item or in our public information. 

The salary thresholds for all tradeable points options, occupations, and the minimum hourly rate are increasing. Some of these increases are being made in line with the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) data from 2024. The most relevant changes for our audience are: 

Appendix Immigration Salary List provides a list of occupations deemed to be in shortage and therefore eligible for certain salary discounts for applicants (option D). The list of occupations has been extended to include further occupations at RQF levels 3-5, but is now time limited to Certificates of Sponsorship issued before 31 December 2026. A separate Temporary Shortage List is also introduced for other specific occupations between RQF levels 3-5. The Temporary Shortage List outlines occupations for which Certificates of Sponsorship can be issued to new applicants despite the lower RQF level, but only where it is issued before 31 December 2026. New applicants to the Skilled Worker route that are being sponsored for any occupation in either the Immigration Salary List or the Temporary Shortage List will not be eligible to bring dependants.  

Updates to student-related Home Office guidance documents 

The following guidance documents have been updated in recent weeks: 

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UKCISA members can access the current, and also the previous, versions of these documents in the Home Office guidance section of Resource Library (immigration) in the UKCISA manual.