Minimum worker visa salary to rise under legal migration curbs

The government is expected to hike the minimum salary for foreign workers as part of plans to curb record legal migration levels.

It is understood the minimum salary for a skilled worker visa will rise from the current level of £26,200.

There are also expected to be curbs on visas for healthcare workers, and the number of dependents migrants can bring to the UK.

Further conditions on some student visas are also expected.

Ministers have been facing pressure to act on legal migration, after figures last week showed net migration hit 745,000 last year.

The new measures are expected to be announced in the House of Commons later by Home Secretary James Cleverly.

The new minimum salary has yet to be confirmed, but there have been reports it could rise above £35,000.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has promised to reduce migration levels, which have risen since Brexit despite a Tory 2019 election promise to reduce them.