The visa loopholes are still there and Britain is still paying the price

A new investigation has exposed the problems Britain continues to grapple with, writes political commentator Rakib Ehsan

In recent times, the BBC – our national public broadcaster – has been seen by some as an underperforming behemoth which has succumbed to radical cultural liberalism and minority identity politics. But Auntie Beeb's ‘Verify’ division, to its credit, has carried out an investigation which found that over 1,900 small high-street enterprises - including mini-marts, vape shops and car washes - are licensed to sponsor foreign workers under a specialist scheme intended for high-earning individuals, despite visa rules supposedly being tightened by the UK Government.

Under the current system, the Home Office gives registered employers the freedom to recruit workers from abroad – on the grounds that they meet a certain skill.

Changes back in July 2025 were said to make the visa rules stricter and more selective – restricting the scheme to graduate-level workers earning at least £41,700 (which is higher than the median full-time salary in the UK).

But a year on, BBC Verify discovered that more than 1,500 grocery and convenience stores, 150 taxi operators, 100 barber shops, and dozens of car washes and vape shops are on the register and able to sponsor people to apply for work visas.

The findings of the investigation demonstrate that the UK’s skilled worker visa system is anything but rigorously selective – indeed, its lax nature is fuelling a steady stream of inward migration which is decidedly low-grade in terms of productivity-enhancing skills, with prominent places of origin tending to be much-distanced from the UK in terms of mainstream culture and social norms.

The ongoing state of affairs regarding our immigration system appears all the more farcical when one considers the kind of professions which are designated as protected occupations by the UK Government. The list of eligible occupations under the current skilled worker visa system includes magicians, poets, DJs, social media influencers, and bloggers – all being categorised as ‘medium-skilled’ professions by the British state.

To make matters worse, ‘equality, diversity, and inclusion managers’ – potential migrants who may originate from former parts of the British Empire and could well sympathise with theories of ‘white privilege’ and ‘decolonisation’ – are considered to be highly-skilled candidates by the Home Office (bizarrely in the same bracket as professional aeronautical engineers).

Not only is the current skilled worker visa system failing to promote high-quality skills that can seriously add to economic dynamism – it is attaching major value to occupations which are associated with forms of identity politics which undermine social cohesion in modern Britain.

Can the UK Government – in light of recent investigations into the skilled worker visa system and the current list of protected occupations – seriously suggest that its immigration policy prioritises economic productivity, social cohesion and cultural stability?

A truly efficient and functional immigration system will include skilled worker visa rules which have a robust filtering process – one which allows for a sensible number of foreign workers who will be net fiscal contributors, add to the UK’s economic productivity, and be able to integrate seamlessly into mainstream civic life by virtue of sociocultural compatibility.

As it stands, we are not remotely close to having this in post-Brexit Britain.