UK Modern Slavery Victims Win Visa Reprieve

Officials said employees who receive a positive "conclusive grounds" decision formally recognising them as a victim of modern slavery through the national referral mechanism will be freed from the restriction tying their immigration status to a specific sponsoring employer. They will be allowed to work for any employer for the remainder of their visa. The migration status of people on skilled worker visas was tied to a sponsoring employer under a scheme introduced in 2021 by Boris Johnson's Conservative government to fill post-Brexit labour shortages.

Workers on that route, who have no recourse to public funds, risked having to leave the UK if they lost their job and could not quickly find a new sponsoring employer. Campaigners had warned the rule was being exploited by rogue employers, who used workers' precarious status to underpay them, force them to work long hours, or push them into zero-hour conditions.