Migrant workers
UNISON fights for the rights of our migrant worker members, wherever they work. They lead the way in setting the union’s agenda for their rights
What is happening
Migrant workers face all the risks and vulnerabilities as other workers, but experience greater vulnerability at work due to UK immigration rules.
Workers on visa sponsorship are left exposed by the UK employment rights framework and targeted by hostile immigration rules. They are uniquely vulnerable to unscrupulous employers.
In the social care sector this has been compounded by weak enforcement, a tolerance for rule breaking by some employers and punitive visa rules. Because care visas are linked to individual employers, the system places private care companies in a position of incredible power. With little or no checks or regulation, they are free to bully and intimidate migrant workers.
Government proposals
Recent proposals by the government to treble the waiting time for settlement for low paid overseas workers from five to fifteen years would worsen visa exploitation and leave overseas workers and their families in limbo.
Overseas workers will inevitably experience worsening exploitation, as the extended qualifying period traps workers with unscrupulous employers.
Hostile rhetoric around immigration has also led to rising levels of racial harassment for our members at work and beyond. Behind the debate about immigration are human lives.
What UNISON is doing
UNISON fights for all our members, wherever they come from. Migrant workers deserve respect, dignity and fair pay in the workplace. UNISON believes all adult social care workers in the UK deserve fair treatment, irrespective of their immigration or citizenship status. They should be able to change roles in the sector without threats or harassment from their employers over their visa status.
UNISON migrant care worker members are building power in their workplaces, to improve their working conditions.
UNISON is campaigning for:
- an end to exploitation—replace employer sponsored visas with a sector-wide scheme in social care and for a clear separation between immigration enforcement and employment rights enforcement;
- no retrospective application or 15-year qualifying period for ILR;
- measures to tackle widespread pregnancy and maternity discrimination experienced by migrant workers;
- a fully funded Fair Pay Agreement for the social care sector;
- an end to the mismatch between public sector pay and visa salary thresholds including in the NHS;
- an end to the hostile environment including No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF).
Our campaigning is led by our migrant worker members. In December 2025, over 600 migrant worker members went to Westminster to talk to over a hundred MPs face to face. Their message was clear: the union wants a reversal of the government’s heartless changes to indefinite leave to remain rules and for employers to lose the control they have over visa sponsorship.
UNISON resources
- National social care charter for migrant workers A 2025 UNISON publication
- Migrant care workers survey results A 2025 UNISON report
- Expendable labour: the exploitation of migrant care workers A 2023 UNISON report
- Supporting migrant workers A UNISON guide
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