Britain could potentially ease employment visa restrictions for highly skilled professionals from Nigeria and other countries.

The United Kingdom is considering a new set of recommendations from the Migration Advisory Committee that could make it easier for foreign professionals to qualify for work visas, particularly by adjusting salary thresholds across several immigration routes to address labour shortages while maintaining competitive wages.

These proposals, as reported by Travel Biz, aim to widen access to UK jobs for skilled foreign workers, including those from countries like India and Nigeria who are seeking employment opportunities in the UK.

A key recommendation from the Migration Advisory Committee is to reduce occupation-specific salary thresholds under the Skilled Worker visa route by basing them on the 25th percentile of earnings instead of the current median salary benchmark.

This change would lower the minimum salary employers must offer for many sponsored roles, potentially improving access to jobs in sectors such as information technology, engineering, and healthcare, where recruitment challenges persist.

The committee proposes retaining an overall salary threshold of £41,700, while also presenting an alternative option of £48,400 for government consideration, to ensure that wages remain competitive.

The advisory body also recommends introducing a single salary threshold of £33,400 for new entrants under the Skilled Worker route, making it easier for younger professionals and recent graduates to enter the UK labour market.

This proposal aims to facilitate the entry of new talent without requiring employers to meet salary levels typically associated with experienced workers, thereby addressing labour shortages in key sectors.

The Migration Advisory Committee also proposed scrapping salary discounts currently available to applicants holding PhD qualifications, suggesting that postdoctoral salary concessions be replaced with a single threshold of £41,700 applicable for up to four years.

The proposed changes extend to Global Business Mobility routes used by multinational companies to transfer staff into the UK, with the committee recommending that salary requirements be aligned with median earnings for each eligible occupation.

For Senior or Specialist Workers and UK Expansion Workers, the MAC recommends using median earnings to determine salary requirements, while Graduate Trainees would be subject to a single salary threshold of £33,400.

The committee also proposed a minimum salary threshold of £30,900 for jobs on the Temporary Shortage List, with employers still required to meet market-rate pay levels to ensure that workers are fairly compensated.

This development comes after the UK recently increased visa application fees across multiple categories, including short-term visit visas, which rose from £127 to £135 for up to six months and £506 for two-year visas, up from £475.

Five-year and ten-year visit visas now cost £903 and £1,128 respectively, with fee adjustments also affecting transit, study, and family visa routes as part of broader immigration cost changes.