Home Secretary James Cleverly says the government will raise the minimum wage for foreign skilled workers to 38,700 pounds ($48,800).

The British government has announced a package of measures to reduce net migration to the UK, including plans to increase the minimum wage required for foreign workers to obtain work visas.

The measure aims to raise the minimum salary that migrants to the UK must earn in a job by a third, following record net immigration in 2022 increased pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak act.

High levels of legal migration have dominated Britain’s political landscape for more than a decade, and Sunak has vowed to gain more control after MPs from his Conservative Party criticized his record ahead of elections expected next year. Successive Conservative-led governments have promised to reduce migration – at one point targeting fewer than 100,000.

Home Secretary James Cleverly said on Monday the government would raise the minimum wage for foreign skilled workers to 38,700 pounds ($48,800) from the current 26,200 pounds ($33,000) and reform the list of jobs where exceptions are made due to shortages , and stricter rules on whether workers can bring their families.

“Migration to this country is far too high and must be reduced, and today we are taking stronger action than any administration before,” Cleverly told lawmakers.

“This package of measures will be implemented starting next spring.”

The measures could spark new disputes with business owners who have struggled to hire workers in recent years amid the persistently tight British labor market and the end of free movement from the European Union after Britain left the bloc.

Annual net migration to Britain hit a record 745,000 last year and has remained high since then, data showed last month.

“This package and our reduction in dependent students will mean around 300,000 fewer people coming to the UK in the coming years than last year,” Cleverly said.

Brexit and border control

Leaders of the Brexit referendum campaign argued that leaving the EU would give Britain more control over its borders, and many who voted to leave cited high levels of migration and the pressure they said it placed on public services , as factors in their decision.

But in recent years Britain has introduced visa regimes for people in Ukraine and the former colony of Hong Kong, while companies in industries such as engineering, construction and hospitality have called on the government to allow them to hire international staff to help make up for labor shortages.

The data showed that total immigration in 2022 was around 1.16 million, compared to emigration of 557,000.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in May that 925,000 of those arriving in 2022 would be non-EU citizens, 151,000 would be from the EU and 88,000 would be British citizens.

It is estimated that in 2022 there were 114,000 long-term arrivals from Ukraine and 52,000 from Hong Kong under the special visa arrangements.

In 2015, the year before the Brexit referendum, net immigration to the UK was 329,000.

Sunak has also pledged to crack down on irregular migration after tens of thousands of people arrived small boats across the English Channel from continental Europe in recent years.