Overview
The Home Office laid a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules (HC 259) on 9 July 2026. Most changes take effect on 3 August 2026. This is a largely technical statement, but several changes matter for sponsors and sponsored workers.
Deadlines now measured by CoS issue date
Two Skilled Worker deadlines are now measured against the date the Certificate of Sponsorship was issued to the worker, rather than the date the visa application is submitted:
Immigration Salary List sponsorships: the CoS must be issued before 1 January 2027. The application itself can be submitted after that date, provided it is made within the CoS validity period.
Prison Service Officers (SOC 3314): the CoS must be issued before 1 January 2028.
The in-country transitional route for care workers and senior care workers (SOC 6135 and 6136) is unchanged and continues to run to 22 July 2028.
Suitability rules rewritten across the work routes
The rules on overstaying and immigration bail have been rewritten in almost every route, including Skilled Worker, Global Business Mobility, Graduate and Student. Applicants in the UK cannot apply for permission to stay while in breach of immigration laws or on immigration bail, but there is now an express exception where the Exceptions for overstayers section of Part Suitability applies. Whether the exception applies is fact-specific, so seek advice before relying on it.
Suspended sentences
A suspended sentence of at least 12 months, where the person was convicted on or after 22 March 2026, now counts like a custodial sentence of the same length in the deportation framework. Suspended sentences have also been added to the criminality rules for Electronic Travel Authorisations and Child Student applications.
Graduate route: children born in the UK
A child born in the UK to a Graduate visa holder can now apply for permission to stay as their dependant. This helps workers on the Graduate route, including those working in care roles before switching to sponsorship, whose children are born during their stay.
What sponsors should do
If you plan to rely on the Immigration Salary List, assign the CoS before the end of December 2026. Do not leave it to the application stage.
Continue to treat 22 July 2028 as the deadline for in-country care worker switching, and do not assume it will remain in place.
Check criminal history disclosures carefully. Suspended sentences of 12 months or more now carry consequences across both refusal and deportation rules.
A note on seeking advice about the overstayer exception
Advice on whether the Exceptions for overstayers provision applies to a specific case involves adverse immigration history, which sits outside Borderless's regulatory authorisation (IAA Level 1). This advice should come from an adviser authorised by the Immigration Advice Authority at Level 2 or 3, or from a solicitor. For more detail on what our authorisation covers, see How Borderless is regulated: the Immigration Advice Authority (IAA).
Government guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-rules-statement-of-changes