Prison officers currently in the UK are to be temporarily exempted from new visa regulations, a measure taken to avert a potential staffing crisis within the country’s correctional facilities.
The decision comes in the wake of recent changes to immigration rules that raised the salary threshold for skilled workers.
The government’s move follows an intervention by Justice Secretary David Lammy, who argued that the stricter criteria would disproportionately affect prisons reliant on staff from Nigeria and Ghana, as reported by The Times.
Earlier this year, Chief Inspector of Prisons Charlie Taylor had warned that many jails depend heavily on officers recruited from West Africa, and that the revised salary requirements placed many at risk of not having their visas renewed.
He said there would be a “devastating effect” on many jails if a solution was not found.
Changes introduced in July raised the salary threshold for skilled worker visas to £41,700 – up from £38,700 – as part of a bid to curb net migration.
The exemption for prison officers in the UK will apply until the end of 2026, with a lower salary threshold of £33,400 then in place until the end of 2027.
A Government spokesperson said: “Net migration has already fallen by more than two-thirds under this Government. We are clear numbers must fall further as we create a migration system that is controlled and fair.
“However, public safety is the first duty of any government and we must ensure jails can continue to run safely with the right level of experienced staff. This is vital given the prison capacity crisis we inherited.
“For that reason, we have given a specific, time-limited exemption to visa rules for prison officers who are already in the country.”
The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), which advises the government on immigration, has recommended that the salary threshold for the skilled worker route remain at £41,700.
The independent watchdog said that increasing the threshold would cost between £520-710m because thousands fewer people would be contributing to the UK economy.