Spotlight on workforce planning as UK and Ireland immigration rules evolve

For employers operating across the UK and Ireland, immigration is becoming harder to plan around. Salary thresholds are rising, the systems are different, and the rules can change over time. The result is that employers are not just asking whether they can hire someone today, but whether they will still meet the requirements in the future, particularly where they are managing workforces across both jurisdictions. To explore what is driving that, and what it means in practice, we’ll be hearing from immigration specialist Shara Pledger.

Across the UK and Ireland, immigration systems are becoming more structured, with salary thresholds playing an increasingly important role. But the way those systems operate differs. Ireland’s employment permit regime is generally more straightforward, while the UK system is more detailed and rule-based, with overlapping requirements that can produce different outcomes for people in similar roles.

Recent changes in the UK, including significant increases to salary thresholds in 2024, have brought that into sharper focus. For employers, the challenge is not just meeting the rules at the point of hire, but planning ahead, thinking about recruitment timelines, factoring in delays in sponsor licence processes, and looking ahead to extensions and settlement, all in a system where requirements may continue to evolve.

So what is driving these changes, and what does it mean for employers relying on international talent? Earlier I spoke to our Head of Immigration, Shara Pledger, and I began by asking her what sits behind the rise in salary thresholds and how employers should respond:

Shara Pledger: “The biggest problem really for employers at the moment is uncertainty. The rules about salary don't change every month but they do change relatively often and the changes are often quite significant. So April 2024 is the time that we saw the biggest change to the approach to salary, certainly since the pre-Brexit days, for example. It was a really, really significant jump and we've obviously seen other increases that have taken effect since then as well. So really, the issue for employers is not just about whether they are meeting the requirements at the point that they're hiring an individual, but it's that long term assessment as to whether or not they'll continue to satisfy those requirements, and the uncertainty that surrounds that is unhelpful.”

Joe Glavina: “How do the UK and Ireland approaches compare when it comes to salary thresholds and access to international talent, Shara?”

Shara Pledger: “The UK is very, very rule oriented. So there are a lot of very specific requirements and overlapping requirements as well in the UK. So here we have a general threshold, and then there is the requirement to match to individual roles, and they may well have a going rate which is very different to that general threshold and require a much higher salary. The system in Ireland is somewhat simpler for employers to be able to navigate and, again, it does just mean that for employers that are in the UK they do have that slightly uncomfortable situation of trying to work out what rules apply for any particular individual in any particular role and what will those requirements be moving forward.”

Joe Glavina: “It seems the overall direction of travel is that accessing global talent is becoming more structured and more expensive. Is that right?”

Shara Pledger: “It’s definitely true to say that things are becoming a lot more structured in the UK. They’ve been structured for a long time. We've been working now with the Points Based System for more than a decade and so this approach to sponsorship is really nothing new but the current iteration of those rules, which really has come out of the fact that we have had so many different versions of them over the years, is very opaque so we do just end up in this situation where you could have two candidates for the same role who, on paper, look extremely similar but based on what their immigration history will be, the requirements for them to be sponsored might be vastly different and I think that's really one of the biggest issues that employers will experience when looking at this from a UK perspective. It’s the fact that it's not just that our rules are deliberately quite difficult to satisfy, it's that they're also quite complicated just because we've been through so many different versions so far.”

Joe Glavina: “Finally, Shara, what are forward-thinking employers doing in response to these changes?”

Shara Pledger: “There are all sorts of things that forward thinking employers could be doing to try and make plans not just right now for the recruitment need, but what those future needs will be. One of them is really obvious, and it's just about timing. The current situation to do with sponsor licensing is complicated again by the fact that we have some delays from the Home Office side, unfortunately. So in order to have the appropriate allocation of spaces on a sponsor licence it’s a requirement to have that allocation sat there ready to go, particularly if you have individuals who need to be sponsored from already being present in the UK. Now the standard processing time for one of those requests for an extra space is 18 weeks which is obviously a very significant period of time and not helpful for an employer who might have a pressing need to recruit. So forward thinking employers will certainly be looking further ahead than the next 4, 8, 12, even 16 weeks to be trying to work out what recruitment needs they may be having. But beyond that, once somebody has been sponsored and is already within the institution, or organisation, it's then a case of thinking, well, what's actually the long-term plan for that individual? When will an extension application be needed? What might the requirements be at that time, and what can we start putting in place in order to satisfy them? Now, at the moment, that's a difficult thing to do, particularly from the settlement perspective because we know that we've had this big public consultation to do with changes to the settlement rules and that closed in February of 2026 but we're still waiting for the finalised version of those rules to be confirmed and so it does mean that it's complicated for employers to try and work out, for example, how long they might need to sponsor somebody for. But thinking ahead to these issues and making a plan for what the worst and the best-case scenario might be very helpful for employers in terms of planning, not just who might be within the workforce, but also things like budgets.”

So the key takeaway for employers is that immigration is becoming harder to plan around, particularly in the UK, and that makes forward planning essential. Employers need to look beyond the initial hire and think about how requirements may change over time. If you would like help with that, please do contact Shara – her details are on the screen for you.