Several Sri Lankan families have been affected by UK Home Office’s clampdown on care workers visas

A crackdown by the United Kingdom Home Office on family visas for care workers has led to dependants of several legally resident Sri Lanka’s being asked to leave the country, the UK’s Guardian publication has reported.

Among the dependants asked to leave, were young children and a pregnant women, it also reported.

This aggressive tightening on family visas has sparked widespread concern among migrant communities, with multiple families reportedly instructed to separate or repatriate despite the primary visa holders maintaining valid, long-term permissions to remain and work in Britain.

Context

The controversy centres around individuals who entered the UK on health and social care worker visas.

Under immigration guidelines in place prior to March 2024, these workers were legally entitled to bring partners and children with them as dependants.

In a bid to reduce net migration numbers, the British government altered the framework in March 2024, explicitly barring newly arriving care workers from bringing family dependants.

The Home Office estimated that approximately 120,000 family members had previously accompanied 100,000 care workers into the country under the older system.

Although the families targeted by the recent letters arrived in the UK well before the March 2024 restrictions were introduced, the new regulations are being applied to their ongoing visa extensions.

When primary care workers renew or extend their work permissions, the Home Office is applying the strict new criteria to the renewals of their family members – effectively refusing to extend dependant status and ordering them out of the country.

The Impact on Families

The enforcement strategy has caused severe emotional and financial distress to tax-paying households that do not rely on public benefits, the report added.

Among the cases documented is that of Varuni Arachchige, a Sri Lankan care worker based in Perth, Scotland.

Arachchige holds a degree in chemistry, a postgraduate qualification in analytical chemistry from Sri Lanka, and an MSc in sustainability and water security from the University of Dundee.

Her husband is a graduate in physical science and double mathematics and works in a local factory.

The couple has lived legally in the UK since arriving on Christmas Day in 2022.

Their two children, aged eight and five, are fully integrated into their local community and attend a local Scottish school.

While the Home Office successfully extended Arachchige’s primary care worker visa until 2031, it rejected the extension applications for her husband and two children, ordering them to vacate the country.

"We are completely shocked by the family receiving these letters," Arachchige told The Guardian, adding that the family had paid thousands of pounds in visa fees and compliance costs. "My visa has been extended... but my husband and children who are my dependants have been told to leave."

A Home Office spokesperson defended the broader immigration strategy, stating that the government would always welcome those who contribute to the UK, but reiterated that net migration numbers must be curtailed to sustainable levels.